Lionel Messi has won Ballon d’Or again: But why is this trophy important?

Sports news headlines and TV channels are buzzing with the news of Lionel Messi winning the men's Ballon d'Or award for a record 7 times. He had won it in in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019. 2020 was a gap year for the award due to the pandemic. The striking golden ball shaped trophy catches the eye as soon as we see it. Apart from being clearly very expensive, why is Ballon d’Or, which means Golden Ball in French, so important?  

How did Ballon d’Or start?   
The history of the original Ballon d'Or, also known as the European Footballer of the Year award, goes back to 1956, when French publication France Football started it. It soon became the most coveted award for footballers all over Europe. Meanwhile, in 1991, FIFA started the FIFA World Player of the Year award.  

From 2005, the winners of the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award started going to the same player. In 2007, the 2 awards were merged to make it a global honour, not just European, jointly awarded by France Football and FIFA. The award was no more based on votes by journalists, but chosen by national team coaches and captains. The inaugural award also went to Lionel Messi, the legendary player from Argentina.  

Was Messi deserving of winning the Ballon d’Or so many times?  
Messi has a long-standing competition with Cristiano Ronaldo. Between them, the two players have bagged all the awards, except one year when it went to another player. Messi is leading the count with the win this year. It’s more than well deserved. The 34-year-old footballer scored 38 goals in 48 games in the last season for Barcelona and won the Copa del Rey. He also won the prestigious Copa America as Captain of team Argentina. Though Messi has played with Barcelona all his career, he moved to Paris Saint-Germain this year, and has scored 4 goals for them too. The biggest question now is who will win more golden balls going forward – Messi or Ronaldo.