Journalist sacked from voting for Ballon d’Or after picks showed he’d ‘lost credibility’

It’s considered an honour for certain members of the media to be asked for their Ballon d’Or preference, but one journalist was excluded from the duty for showing bias

Former Argentina international Enrique Wolff was disqualified from voting for the Ballon d’Or after officials noticed the bias in his methods.

The former Real Madrid and River Plate defender was told he “lost objectivity” after his votes in the 2023 Ballon d’Or showed too much favouritism. And it led to the Argentinian representative losing his place on the voting panel for the 2024 edition of the awards ceremony.

Real winger Vinicius Jr heads into Monday’s big vote as the clear betting favourite to emerge with what would be his maiden Ballon d’Or trophy. Lionel Messi – who has won three of the past four awards – will relinquish his grip on the biggest individual prize in football after Wolff helped him get his hands on last year’s gong.

But the Buenos Aires native – who has enjoyed a successful broadcasting career after retiring for good in 1981 – perhaps wasn’t the fairest of contributors. The Ballon d’Or men’s winner is decided by an international jury of journalists from each of the top 100 FIFA-ranked men’s national teams, who vote on a 30-man shortlist compiled by French magazine France Football.

Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief at France Football and one of the main organisers behind the ceremony, told The Times: “I am not a dictator. They vote with their heart. Some prefer attackers or midfielders, this team or that team. The important thing is to be credible. Not everyone passes that test either.

“Last year the voter for Argentina was removed after he selected four players from Argentina — Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Emiliano Martinez — in his top five spots. There were four Argentina players available on the shortlist and he picked all of them. My opinion was he had lost objectivity. We changed the journalist and he no longer votes.”

On one hand, it’s easy to sympathise with Wolff considering Argentina ended their 36-year wait for a World Cup crown at Qatar 2022. But even then, including each of Argentina’s four candidates in one’s five-man pecking order is perhaps too egregious to go missed.

Aside from Lionel Messi, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, striker Julian Alvarez and Inter Milan forward Lautaro Martinez also made the cut for last year’s Ballon d’Or shortlist. And according to Wolff – who earned 27 caps for his country – each of the four boasted the credentials to be considered for the crown.

In the interest of fairness, both organisers and peers alike will hope Argentina’s new contributor treats the job with a more balanced outlook. And Argentina’s loss could prove to be Brazil’s major gain if Vinicius lives up to his favourite billing.

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