Fundamental reforms to the Golden Ball award, These stars are the most likely to be crowned according to the new criteria

The magazine used to award the Golden Ball annually to the best footballer in the world, on the basis of the calendar year only, but announced its reliance on the selection on the previous season directly for the award, meaning that this year’s award will be won by the best player in the 2021-2022 season, and not in 2022 - 2023 as was the case.

Reforms will also be made to the award, according to new regulations and a selection committee, which may be due to the great criticism and dissatisfaction with some of its choices for the players nominated and crowned with the award.

France Football added former Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba to the selection committee, which includes the editorial directors of the magazine and the French sports newspaper L'Equipe as well.

It also reduced the number of journalists participating in the vote to choose the winner to 100 journalists representing the countries of the best-ranked teams in the International Football Association (FIFA), down from 170 journalists.

Golden Ball Repairs

One of the most important reforms is not to place the players’ history in choosing the winner, as the individual performance and the decisive personality of the player in the matches will be the first criterion for selection, followed by the titles he won, whether with his club or his country.

The French magazine was widely criticized after awarding the Golden Ball last year to Argentine star Lionel Messi, for the seventh time in its history, a record, as many saw that his runner-up, Polish star Robert Lewandowski, was more deserving of the award.

Lewandowski has a great chance to make up for what he missed this year according to the new criteria given his decisive role with his German team Bayern Munich, especially if he leads him to the Champions League title this season, a title that will often crown the most prominent stars of the winning team with the Golden Ball, and he is also a candidate To reap many local titles as well.

Therefore, there are some brilliant stars this season with their teams whose career is still going on in the European Champions, the winner of the Golden Ball will not leave them - according to the new standards - most notably the French star Karim Benzema, in light of his remarkable brilliance with his team Real Madrid, and his leadership in him for the role The quarter-finals of the tournament at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain, especially since the Royal is also the first candidate to win the Spanish League.

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah also has his chance, if he repeats his achievement and leads Liverpool to the Champions League podium, as well as his colleague Sadio Mane, who has already achieved a great achievement by leading the Senegalese team to the African Nations Cup title for the first time in its history.

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne is not far from competing strongly for the Golden Ball if he leads his team to achieve the dream of the first European title in its history, a title that is difficult for the team that has risen to the most podiums in England in the last decade.

And the exit from the Champions League has weakened the hopes of the brilliant Kylian Mbappe in the award, and Messi is already far from his usual level this season with Saint-Germain.

The return matches in the Champions League final price, scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, may result in new stars imposing themselves with their brilliance and leading their teams to the continental championship title, especially Chelsea (the title holder), Manchester United and Juventus, with their some of the prominent stars.

Ronaldo, Messi's runner-up

As for Cristiano Ronaldo - Messi's runner-up in the number of times crowning the Ballon d'Or (5 times) - his hopes are as weak as his rival because he is also far from his level this season, but he still has the opportunity to make up for what he missed if he regains his brilliance and achieves a surprise with United to continue the journey in the Champions League and crowning The European champions, in light of the team's move away from the local title that Manchester City and Liverpool are competing for.

The two almost monopolized the largest individual award in the world since 2008, as Messi won the Ballon d'Or 7 times (years: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021), while Ronaldo won it 5 times (years: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), and the exception was The only one in 2018 when Luka Modric crowned her.

Although the World Cup will be held this year in Qatar, it will not be included in the calculations of the Golden Ball for the current year, but may contribute to deciding the award winner in 2023, because the coronation ceremony for the winner of the Golden Ball will be held before the World Cup, which will be held in the winter instead of in the summer as usual.

The award ceremony for the 2022 Ballon d'Or will be held in September or October.

Esports World Championship in Bali is expected to contribute "sport tourism"

Esports athletes compete in the Lokapala game during the semifinal match of the 2021 Esports President's Cup grand final in Nusa Dua, Badung, Bali

Jakarta - PBESI Daily Chair Bambang Sunarwibowo hopes that the IESF Esports World Championship on November 27 will contribute to the Indonesian sport tourism sector by placing Bali as the location and host of the international event.

This hope arises considering that it is estimated that around 1,500 participants from more than 120 countries will attend the esports world championship event, said Bambang.

"Thus the esports ecosystem in Indonesia will also develop well in Indonesia and we hope this can also bring Indonesia's big name in the international arena," he said during a virtual press conference, Friday.

He said that currently esports have become part of the lives of Indonesian people with around 52 million Indonesians who are involved in the e-sports ecosystem, both in the fields of athletes, activists, and young people.

Given the great interest of the Indonesian people, it is hoped that this will advance the growth of the current e-sports ecosystem into the future, said Bambang.

According to Bambang, the implementation of the IESF World Championship is one of the important agendas in the grand design of the Indonesian Esports Executive Board (PBESI) this year which will be one of the main milestones in the history of esports development in Indonesia.

To ensure the success of the event, he said PBESI had coordinated and collaborated with all parties to ensure readiness from various sides, starting from the location and accommodation, management, to the condition of the athletes.

If these preparations get a good assessment from IESF as the organizer, Bambang said that in the future Indonesia will gain trust in the future and have a better chance to host international events .

"PBESI at a very young age has only reached two years, we hope to be able to really organize it well at an international class," said Bambang.

He also expressed his appreciation to IESF for having trusted Indonesia as the host of this world-scale grand event.

"This World Championship is not only important for the development of the country's esports world, but is also important in accelerating the wheels of the national economy from the digital creative industry sector and tourism," he said.