Ways FIFA Could Improve the Ballon D'Or Award Process

On Monday, January 12, 2015, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer will attend FIFA’s 2014 Ballon d’Or award ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Switzerland.

Sitting patiently with bated breath and fingers crossed, it is likely each modern footballing legend will be unable to enjoy the hors d'oeuvres and panoramic views of Lake Zurich. Instead, they will be preoccupied with their potential winner's speech and being declared the greatest football player on Earth at present.

Or will they? Ceremonies, red carpets and immaculately polished silverware aside, many argue the Ballon d’Or is politically driven and far from objective and fair. Some may even argue the winner already knows he’s got it in the bag and has cleared some space in his trophy cabinet in anticipation.

So what can be done to make the award less ambiguous and subjective? What can be done to ensure a player such as Franck Ribery doesn’t feel robbed? So much so he publicly told AZ in January 2014 (h/t ITV Sport) that he: “Deserved to win the Ballon d'Or. It wasn't about football. It was a political decision.”

Ultimately, what can be done to instil some faith in FIFA and save the sanctity of the award?  Obviously, computing the Shapley values for each player and their respective teams would require millions of permutations. With Ronaldo alone, you would have to calculate his contribution to Real Madrid in domestic and European fixtures. Then, of course, his contribution to each Portugal friendly, European Championship qualifier and World Cup campaign.

That would be no easy task, but it’s exactly this level of detail used in the sport of baseball and depicted in the film Moneyball.

Now, I humbly accept that it’s a bit ambitious to try and solve the issues that have plagued the Ballon d'Or since its inception in one article. But hopefully this raises some interesting points that could serve to remove the subjective and arguably biased judging methods of FIFA, while at the same time ushering in a new era of statistical advancement in football worldwide.


Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2314400-ways-fifa-could-improve-the-ballon-dor-award-process