Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated the football world for almost two decades, but Franck Ribery was one of the few players standing at their level. Now retired, France legend has opened about their feelings of was stumbled during the Ballon d’Or race in 2013, which saw him lose to Ronaldo.
A legend for both France’s national team and Bayern Munich, Riberi officially announced its pension in October 2022. In an interview with The teamforward reflected on his famous career, Focuses especially on the 2013 campaign:
“I had everything except that year. It was the perfect year, I couldn’t have done better. This Ballon d’or will forever remain an injustice“Ribery said, expressing his frustration over losing to Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 2012-13 season was one of the best in Ribery’s career, both individually and with his club. With Bayern Munich he won the treble (Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Uefa Champions League), and he was also appointed This year’s UEFA player.
Despite Ribery’s outstanding contribution, it was Cristiano Ronaldo, with 55 goals and 13 assists in 55 matches that season, which claimed 2013 Ballon d’Or. The controversy originated from the fact that Ronaldo had not won a large team trophy that year and just secured the Spanish Super Cup, a fact that many fans – and Ribéry themselves – believe in an unfair decision.
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2013 Ballon d’or voting
2013, France’s football And Fifa jointly organized Ballon d’Or, with coaches, captains and the media, each of whom had a word in the vote. Despite his treble success, Ribery ended in third place in the Ballon D’Or race and struck behind both Ronaldo and Messi.
Ronaldo claimed the top spot with 27.99% of the votes (9.36% from coaches, 10.47% from captains and 8.19% from the press), Messi was second with 24.72% (8.25% from coaches, 8.99% from captains and 7.49% from the press) and Ribery finished in third place with 23.36% (6.44% from coaches, 5.19% from captains and 10.75% from the press).
While the result was close, Voice pattern revealed that Ribery had significant support from the press. However, coaches and captains seemed to benefit Ronaldo’s extraordinary statistics on Ribery’s trophy -loaded season.
