PSG accused of lobbying 2021 Ballon d’Or for Messi
Le Monde and Mediapart reported According to a report by Le Monde and Mediapart, PSG allegedly pressured France Football for Messi to win the Ballon d’Or in 2021 1. The French club is currently being investigated for this matter in 2021, PSG owner, billionaire Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and his club pressurized France Football to handover the Ballon d’Or trophy to Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi, the Argentine forward and Paris Saint-Germain player, won the 2021 Ballon d’Or award for the seventh time, making him the player with the most Ballon d’Or wins in history. He was nominated by the majority of the 180 sports journalists involved in the vote around the world, ahead of Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema. Messi also helped his country win the Copa America, his first international honor, and scored 40 goals in 2021 – 28 for Barcelona, four for Paris St-Germain, and eight for Argentina.
The reports further said this was made possible when they allegedly strengthened ties and relations with Pascal Ferre, who was the president of France Football at the time of Messi’s seventh Ballon d’Or glory.
This is just an allegation and has not been found yet, but investigations have been opened to verify the veracity of the claims.
While Messi believed that the 2021 Copa America, his first international title with Argentina’s senior team, was a major factor in his winning the Ballon d’Or: “This award is for what we did at the Copa America,” Messi said in his acceptance speech. “I want to share it with my national team teammates and thank them, pundits claimed that he did not deserve the 7th award. Today, there news has spread, far and wide with several investigations taking place to ascertain whether PSG meddled with France Football to obtain the win for their striker.
