2014 is almost over, and in less than 1 month, the best player of 2014 will receive the Ballon D Or. As well know, the three candidates are Ronaldo, Messi, and Neuer. Who do you think deserves the award? Ronaldo has arguably had the best year of his career, winning all individual awards possible (apart from the world cup) and guiding his team to 4 titles, he managed to scored a total of 61 goals. Messi, even though he didn't have the best year of his career, did manage to pop in 58 goals, as well as winning the World Cup Golden Ball and leading Argentina to the final against the Germans. In 2014, he also became the top scorer in history of El Clasico, the Champions League, and La Liga. Not Leo's best year, but certainly not one to forget. The third candidate, Manuel Neuer, won the German double with Bayern Munich, as well as none other than the FIFA world cup with the German Naitonal Team, as well as winning the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper in the tournament. The only keeper that has ever won the Ballon D Or (called "European Player of the Year" at the time), was Lev Yashin, the Russian goalkeeper who won it in 1963. In recent years, the goalkeeper who got closest to it was the legendary Gianluigi Buffon, who got the "Silver Ball" second to his international team mate Fabio Cannavaro. So who deserves the 2014 Ballon D Or? Obviously for me the obvious choice is Ronaldo for everything he has accomplished in 2014, winning the most trophies individually as well as collectively , but everyone has different opinions. Please no fighting, just a formal discussion. Thanks!

Sorry, but no one will derinitely listen to your last sentence there.

@SoccerBoss I think everyone can give their own opinion without having to fight or insult others :)

Ronaldo will win without question

This would be difficult to decide, Messi has broken those records and many people will vote for him even he had not the best season. Ronaldo has the goals and assists, and the trophies... and Neuer the World Cup. This is more between Messi and Ronaldo. Ronaldo didnt make it to the WC Finals, so more votes to Messi... Ronaldo great season... cr7 supporter.

@RealMadrid17

Hey man, do you mind if I create a similar thread for polls? I'll ask people to rate their top 5 players of 2014 from #1-5 and then add them up afterwards to create a FootyRoom Ballon d'Or. Is that okay with you? I'm asking because you already started a Ballon d'Or discussion thread. :/

Ronaldo for me, has had a better season than Messi, and definitely better than Neuer.

@Dynastian98 Yeah of course bro! :)

coming from the vote thread, just wanted to share this out loud before deciding the votes. for the first 3 it's a tricky one, i don't think FIFA would ever put another player between Messi and Ronaldo because if they do, it would terribly piss off one of the two (and all his sponsors). Neuer, as it is being understood, he is into the equation so what i mean is:

1-Neuer
2-Ronaldo
3-Messi

or

1-Ronaldo
2-Messi
3-Neuer

or do you think that FIFA will have the balls to do 1-Ronaldo 2-Neuer 3-Messi? all this implying the fact that the Balon D'or is a fixed challenge not dependant by genuine votes of course :D

Could someone give a single argument ?

This is like who is the most popular dude of the highschool no facts, stats, arguments are given only subjectivity and fans atitude. And the most incredible is dont reply please you should have added i know its not truth but lets be fanboys for a moment...

The calendar year is divided in 3, January-June ( 2nd League leg + CL ), World cup and August-December ( 1st League leg +CL ).

January-June period : Liga.

CL :

Result : Liga Messi - CL Ronaldo.

World cup :

August-December : Liga.

CL :

Liga + CL = Messi.

Sorry for crashing Madrid fans secret party, your beloved Ronaldo will get it this year because of his team strenght, but if you are about the individual performance ( you dont really care i can write till tomorrow fan boys cant hear anyway ) here is stats if someone here really care, if not then lets the stupid election of the most popular player...

can you please cut/paste that post from the vote thread in this thread? just votes in there, arguments in here.

edit: there you go, now just vote on the other thread, thanks. i could have left your votes but my finger slipped.

No i wont loose tons of my time as you did in the rabona thread, delete my comments in the other thread, fanboys doesnt know objectivity.
Edit : thanks shpalman but i doubt anyone interested of stats and arguments...

@Tiki, i can understand what you mean, but since there's this thread i don't see why try to derail the other one. it's the same in the end, isn't it?

edit: like, if we really like to talk about stuff properly, we should start with the fact no one is mentioning Lahm. ok he'll never win it, but we are having our own Ballon D'Or so, one could put even Ibrahimovic if he wants.

Since there is only one truth and reality, we should argue more to try to reach it, no one me included can pretend to have the perfect truth, but if everyone has his own truth, discussion then doesnt mean much.

Sincerly, who did better than this ? And its not even his best season.

@Tiki
depends, you'll always find the dude who thinks he's the sh*t no matter what, but you'll also find the dude who will get your reasoning if you're persistent and use logic, facts and so, objectivity(experience is always a plus) . then people are free to ignore things and so to stay ignorant. but this doesn't mean that your argument/reasoning/post is useless, it still IS your opinion and so if i were you, i'd still expose it and stand by it, and defend it like the others defend their own. also there are lot of people who just read and appreciate, and even if they agree, they'll not write anything. hell, i found posts from here copy/pasted on Goal comments...

ok off-topic ends here.

Well said.

There are also those who understand the point, but simply don't agree.

Yeah there is also '' My daddy told me so'' arguments, thats why im thinking seriously to stop arguing, still waiting forn an argument by the way.

No need, the majority of the world clearly agrees that Ronaldo is the deserved winner. I don't want to waste my time on someone who believes everything their daddy tells them. :)

Thats what i wanted to point, i was talking about you in case you didnt understand...
Im not saying Messi should win BO, he got 0 trophy, but he carried the team and individually did better than Ronaldo over the whole season...

If we judge about achievements, Ronaldo or Neuer should win it, but the whole year performence, Messi did better with weaker team overall, Barça was competing with Pinto in Goal keeping.

I wouldnt have commented if you included Messi in your top 5, I told before that Ronaldo is a deserved winner if we ignore his last games, but its just hypocrisy to put him outside, one goal in the final and everybody would be praising him as a God.

@tiki_taka What are those stats based on? Because on La Liga (August-December) I don't understand why Messi would be first since Ronaldo is top of the league, as well as most goals and most assists.

Because football is more than about 2 stats, other stats are included when you want to compare players. Hazard for example is very well ranked in PL rankings while his stats are decent actually, but his influence on the game, dribles, chances created, posession, defense....
This is the real problem, Madrid fans thinks topping the league scorer charts makes you the best. The Pichichi is a thing, the better player is another.

Most of Ronaldo goals are tap ins and its normal, because Madrid is an assisting machine and he is ine of the best in front od goal. But he rely on his strong midlefield while Messi is clearly playing in midlefield since the false 9 position is no longer working for him due to the 2 close lines defense, you can not base your judgement on player on how much goals they scored.