Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery: 2013 Ballon d'Or a 'huge disappointment'

Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has admitted to kicker that he is still disappointed at missing out on the 2013 Ballon d'Or award.

Ribery, 31, had been named on the three-man-list of finalist for the biggest individual accolade in world football last year, and had high hopes of landing the trophy.

However, the former France international was not able to break the joint-dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and ended up third in January.

"That was a huge disappointment," Ribery said. "I had a wonderful year [2013]. [I] won everything there was to be won, and was decisive, also for the national team in the World Cup qualifiers."

In 2013, Ribery won the treble with Bayern, was named the 2013 UEFA Best Player in Europe in late August, and also helped Bayern win the European Supercup against Chelsea.

"Ronaldo also played well, but unlike me he did not win any titles," he continued. "This had always been the deciding argument in the years before. But all of a sudden it no longer mattered. I did not understand it, many others too."

In mid-November 2013, it emerged that the deadline for national team coaches, captains, and participating journalists to submit their top three choices for the FIFA-organised prize had been pushed back by 14 days, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 29.

This allowed voters to take into account Ronaldo's hat trick in Sweden which clinched Portugal's place at the 2014 World Cup. At that time, UEFA president Michel Platini joked that "it could be that FIFA did it to please Cristiano."

And over a year on, Ribery has not forgotten about it, adding: "What happened in the run-up, with the prolonged deadline, the comments of some officials, that was unusual indeed. Yes, I am still very disappointed."

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