France Football explains Musiala’s absence from Ballon d’Or after complaints
Bayern Munich’s sporting director criticised Musiala’s absence from the 30 nominations, and now the editor-in-chief of the magazine responsible for the award has explained the decision
It is already a custom, but the announcement of the list of 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or has once again generated some discontent. Bayern ‘s sporting director , Max Eberl, expressed his discontent publicly over the fact that Jamal Musiala was not among the nominees.
“It is completely incomprehensible to us that he is not even among the top 30 players,” Eberl said on Wednesday, the day the 30 names competing for the award were revealed.
The answer came this Sunday. Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, the magazine responsible for the awards, explained the decision to leave Musiala out.
“The fact that Musiala is not on the list of 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or does not mean that his talent, which everyone recognises, has been called into question,” Garcia began by saying. “But expectations of him were probably higher this year.”
“In my opinion, there are three main reasons why he was not selected. Firstly, his lack of statistics in the Champions League , where he scored as many goals as Mathys Tel [ Bayern ‘s French forward who scored twice in the tournament]. That is not enough for a player of his calibre,” explains the editor-in-chief of France Football.
Furthermore, Vincent Garcia left another argument related to Musiala ‘s performances in «big games»: «He also failed to convince in important games, such as the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid and the Euro 2024 quarter-finals against Spain, where his performances were not catastrophic, but rather average. Finally, Bayern ‘s season , which saw them reach their worst position in the Bundesliga since 2011, did not help either.»
The 68th Ballon d’Or award ceremony is scheduled for October 28 in Paris.