Bayern Munich Chairman Herb Hainer takes a shot at the Ballon d’Or

The most prestigious individual award in soccer, the Ballon d’Or given by France Football magazine, has a long history of snubbing players who play outside of Spain and France. Lionel Messi’s victory this year pushes the streak to 15 consecutive years. The Bundesliga, and Bayern Munich in particular, has continuously drawn the disdain of the organizers.

In a recent interview with Sport 1 (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), Bayern’s Chairman of the Board Herbert Hainer gave a very blunt and harsh response to this year’s results.

“Because this time apparently we didn’t have a player who was so good to make the voting. But that will definitely change again in the future...Jamal would certainly have deserved it just as much. Jude Bellingham is an extraordinary player but Jamal definitely deserves it. I’m sure this won’t be the last time for Jamal at the Ballon d’Or,” Hainer remarked.

Real Madrid’s Bellingham, who did most of his work last season with Borussia Dortmund, finished as the highest Bundesliga-related player at 18th, but managed to snag the Kopa Trophy that is awarded to the best player under the age of 21. Bayern’s Jamal Musiala finished 26th in Ballon d’Or voting and runner-up to Bellingham in the Kopa voting.

But in 500 less minutes, Musiala had more goals (12 to eight), more assists (ten to four), and more title-winning clutch moments (one to nil) than Bellingham.

For Bayern fans, this brings up recent history when Lionel Messi won the prestigious award over Robert Lewandowski in 2021, despite Lewandowski’s record setting 41-goal campaign to break Gerd Muller’s longstanding mark. The French magazine also cancelled the award in 2020 when it was clear that Lewandowski should’ve won after leading Bayern to the treble.