Why Erling Haaland is the rightful winner of 2023 Ballon d’Or

By definition, the Ballon d’Or rewards the player considered to have performed the best across the past 12 months. So, by that criteria there can only be one winner: Erling Braut Haaland.

It doesn’t even come close in my mind. People will point to Lionel Messi and say that he was instrumental in Argentina capturing the World Cup. I agree. But that was seven fixtures in which they lost to Saudi Arabia and needed penalties to get beyond the Netherlands, then France in the final.

In Qatar, Messi won the Silver Boot and became the first man ever to secure the Golden Ball twice, having also collected it in 2014, so it’s fair to say that he had an excellent tournament. I’m not here to undermine or diminish the Argentine’s achievements – they are phenomenal and he’s probably the greatest player to have ever kicked a football.

But for the Ballon d’Or, we’re examining what was achieved over the last 12 months – over that period, Haaland is the clear and obvious choice in my opinion.