Does Gareth Bale have an outside chance at the Ballon d'or ?

It's 5 years, i know this because my family lives in Spain.

how about they scrap that rule altogether

no he won't. he didn't have the most terrific season, yes it was better than the one before, but he was still out injured a lot, and other people had better seasons than him. he'd have to really do something special at the euros to get the hype train behind him. but i think it will be his performance between september to january that will dictate the balon d'or or not....i still say the award makes sense to be give either at the end of the season or end of summer after a major tournament like the world cup. handing it out in january when the hype train gets awed by games between september to jan, and forgets the previous season is ridiculous. either way, no, bale doesn't have any chance at the award this year

^This, there's nothing more I can add to what titto said.

Bale had a good season with 19 goals compared to 17 last season and 21 the season before. Including winning the CL to booth, but not scoring in the CL throughout the season doesn't do him any favours tbh, and he'll need to actually win the euros, and do some special things to have a shot at it.

That said, if Messi wins the CA then all this talk will probably be irrelevant anyway.

The awards is greatly influenced by what happens between august to january that you could even score 70 goals, win a treble and be the top scorer in every competition and still not be nominated once you have a below average august - november.

For example, Messi, Neymar and CR7 could play zero games all season by this time, and still probably just be 3 crazy performances away from being touted as very strong balon d'or contenders.. And that's even before october..

Voting starts in the end of august and closes in october. 80% voting finishes in 2 weeks. Only once it changed and it was famous Ronaldo Blatter scandal. Opened voting after ronaldo hat trick. and ronaldo got only 3% more votes than messi.if the voting didnt change messi now would have 6 ballon dor versus 2 of CR. and the debate would die forever

But it usually finishes between august and september. it always been like this. this is how cannavaro won it after the world cup. This is the reason why CL plays a big role.because the CL is the last competition before voting. For this season Euro and Copa america will be the last competition. So Euro and Copa America will make a big impact

Voting starts august? Lol.. Btw, I thought voting ends november?

Bale doesn't deserve it, neither does Ronaldo.

If Messi wins CA, he should win it. If he doesn't, then Suarez should win it.

Yes, we won the CL, but we did so by playing unattractive football and nobody stood out for a very long stretch of time to have a strong case for the BdO.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Bale doesn't deserve it, neither does Ronaldo.

If Messi wins CA, he should win it. If he doesn't, then Suarez should win it.

Yes, we won the CL, but we did so by playing unattractive football and nobody stood out for a very long stretch of time to have a strong case for the BdO.

^ This

going by last season, i don't think messi should win it either. there's a difference between being the best footballer, which (all bias aside) mess is, and having the best season. there were some guys who had solid seasons, but i guess they're just not considered marquee enough by those voting.

I think if Bale carries Wales to win the Euro he could have a shot at it. He's been the best player at the Euros so far, and was a very strong player this season.

The same could be said of Ronaldo though because of the hype. He hasn't been the best, but if he plays a big part in say Portugal fluking their way into a Euro win he would probably be a shoe-in given his CL win and goal totals.

Thats the thing, Ronaldo hasn't been the best player for Portugal. If anything he's practically super flopped 3 out of the 4 matches for them. That said he will obviously get picked to be a finalist at the Ballon D'Or regardless of what happens for the rest of the tournament due to winning the Champions and the tons of goals he shipped in last season.

Bale has been very good for Wales, and along with Payet has been one of the key players for his national team at this tournament. But considering Bale wasn't exactly super human with R. Madrid this season I don't see how he could win it, but maybe could end up on the podium if he goes ham and helps Wales win.

I think voters have short memories, and whatever player goes on a kill from the start of the season to December will likely get the vote regardless of what happens this summer. That's just how the dumbass voters seem to operate. I remember back in the day, the award of best player at the big summer tournaments was pretty much guaranteed the BallonD'Or/FIFA World Player of the Year but now it's not like that. I mean put it like this, Wales could win the Euros, but Suarez can start the season scoring hat tricks like crazy like he finished last season and just cause of that reason alone I could see voters giving the nod to Suarez over Bale, even though Bale leading Wales to it's first Euro win would be 10x more historic imo. Like I said, the voters are very short minded and very unreasonable.

On a side note :
I personally wish they didn't base the award so highly on goals. It's not a golden boot award after all, it's a best player award. Players like Zidane and Ronaldinho would of never won these awards because they don't put up high goal numbers, but they clearly were the cog turning the wheel at there respective teams.

if he wins the euros

Bale has matured so much since his move to RM. So unselfish, he ran his arse off tonight. Well done to him

Firenze wrote:if he wins the euros

If?