‘If I’m Robert Lewandowski, I’m starting a petition to get it back on’: Rio Ferdinand slams ‘cruel’ decision to cancel the Ballon D’or after the Bayern striker emerged as favourite to scoop the award following standout season
- Rio Ferdinand believes Robert Lewandowski deserved to win the Ballon D’or
- He said it was ‘out of order’ to cancel the awards ceremony last month
- Ferdinand said the award should have been handed out despite COVID-19 fears
- The Bayern star was favourite for the prize after becoming Europe’s top scorer
Rio Ferdinand says Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski should be outraged after the Ballon D’or was scrapped last month, saying he should ‘start a petition to get it back on’.
The Polish forward was the favourite the win the prize after a sensational season that has seen him soar to the top of Europe’s scorers list. He fired in 53 goals as he helped the German outfit win the Bundesliga and the German Cup, with the team also still in the Champions League.
The Ballon D’or was cancelled by organisers in France because of a ‘lack of a sufficiently level playing field’ after many leagues around the world were suspended due to the coroanvirus pandemic.
Bayern star Robert Lewandowski should have won the Ballon D’or this year, says Rio Ferdinand
He said it was ‘a disgrace’ to cancel the awards and said the striker should ‘start a petition’
But Manchester United legend Ferdinand says the decision not to hold the awards this year was ‘a disgrace’. He added that Lewandowski has ‘taken himself to the next level’ and thoroughly deserved to win it after years of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo dominating the ceremony.
‘If I’m Lewandowski and they have cancelled the Ballon d’Or, I’m starting up a petition to get it back on,’ he said, speaking to TEAMtalk.
‘Aside from the year when Luka Modric won it, Messi and Ronaldo have dominated that award for the last 12 years and Lewandowski has taken himself to the next level this season.
The ceremony was scrapped due to ‘lack of a sufficiently level playing field’ amid COVID-19
Lewandowski has been sensational this season as Europe’s leading scorer with 53 goals
‘I can’t believe they have cancelled it. It’s cruel, that is a good word to describe it. Lewandowski deserves to win that award for what he has done this season and if he leads Bayern Munich to the Champions League and they still decide they won’t give it out to him, it’s not right.’
The BT Sport pundit pointed out that the organisers should have at least awarded the prize without holding the lavish event in order to recognise the best player of the year, calling them ‘out or order’.
‘What the award means to the history of the game, I think it’s a disgrace that they have taken it away for this year.
The prize has been dominated by the likes of Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years
‘Why can’t they give the award out, even if they don’t have a big ceremony to hand it over like they normally do? I think it’s really out of order.
‘To be on that list as the best player in the world is special. All these players want to be there. That’s the elite, the ultimate for a top player, and in this generation now there are two players who have dominated it for so long.
‘That would have made it all the more special for Lewandowski to get his name on that list and I can’t believe they have taken it away from him.’
Ferdinand said organisers should have handed the award to the Pole without holding the event
In a statement after confirming the Ballon D’or would not be held, the organisers said they risked giving the winner ‘an indelible asterisk’ in a disrupted season said they were keen to protect the integrity of the award.
‘We did not want to put an indelible asterisk on the prize list as “a trophy won in exceptional circumstances due to the health crisis of Covid-19”.
‘Protecting the credibility and legitimacy of such a prize also means guaranteeing its irreproachability over time.’
