The Ballon d’Or imagination often awakens during the Champions League final.
The European competition has proved more effective in securing a Ballon d’Or than every other competition apart from the World Cup. The last five awards were split between Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas. Both were mainstays on an FC Barcelona team that won four of the last six Champions League finals and featured in all six.
The Weighting of Club and Country Achievements
What is the proper balance between a candidate’s accomplishments for club and country to earn a Ballon d’Or nomination? And how prestigious does each of those teams need to be?
The Emergence of Global Talent
One of the more prominent shifts in the women’s game globally has been the emergence of star players from countries outside North America and Europe. Increasingly, they represent those countries at the international level rather than the former colonial powers with which they may also have ties.
This has presented a conundrum when assessing a player’s talent for a Ballon d’Or nod. Stark differences in development and investment from national teams and the federations that govern them lead to contrasts in the quality of competition from one region to the next.
The weight of those factors has historically tilted toward Europe. It’s time for that to change, and there might be no better player for this departure than Melchie Dumornay of OL Lyonnes in France.
Dumornay’s Case for a Top Finish
After finishing 18th in the Ballon d’Or rankings last year, the Haitian midfielder is well deserving of a top-three finish.
It could have been higher had Lyon won the Champions League this year. The eight-time champions were outplayed by Barcelona in Saturday’s final by a decisive four goals to nil, but that should not erase Dumornay’s impact on Lyon and across European women’s football. She is among the single most important players to any team’s success.
Dumornay was on the bench due to injury in the first leg against Arsenal, and Arsenal won 2-1. She returned for the second leg, and Lyon won 3-1, which included a sublime assist to German winger Jule Brand to seal their victory. Altogether, Dumornay recorded five goals and an assist in Lyon’s Champions League campaign and another six goals and seven assists in the French Première Ligue. She has been voted league MVP.