Cristiano Ronaldo

While Ronaldo was underwhelming at the World Cup – with many believing he carried an injury – he has been magnificent before and after it.
Why he deserves to win it: Ronaldo scored 31 goals in 30 league games in La Liga and helped Real Madrid win La Decima – their tenth UEFA Champions League trophy and scored 17 times in that competition as well!
Why he doesn’t deserve to win it: The only logical argument for Ronaldo not winning the trophy would be his underwhelming World Cup campaign where Portugal went out in the group stages. And there seems to be some resentment against him from the powers-that-be with UEFA President Michel Platini asserting that a World Cup winner should win the prize. This led Real Madrid to come out in defence of their star asset. They said in a statement:
‘Firstly, we are surprised at the repeated comments regarding his [Platini’s] personal preferences over the choice of winner of the Ballon d’Or, particularly given that he is the head of European football’s principal body, where our understanding is that the strictest impartiality should prevail. Secondly, the Ballon d’Or is an individual rather than collective prize which is awarded annually to the best player in the world, and we believe that, in order to maintain its prestige, those who participate in the vote should take into account exclusively the individual professional achievements of the players. Finally, we believe that Cristiano Ronaldo has without doubt had his best ever professional year individually and he is deserving of the Ballon d’Or.’