His victory does not suffer any challenge. Unlike the men, where a squad of Liverpool players, champions of Europe, could claim this year to compete with the sixfold Golden Ball Lionel Messi, the women's award left little room for suspense.
At 34, Megan Rapinoe deserves more than ever to put her name on a prize list that has ignored footballers for too long. Unsurprisingly, on 2 December Norwegian soccer star Ada Hegerberg of Norway was the winner of the first Women's Golden Ball in history.
She was elected by a panel of voters that brought together 48 journalists, one per country where women's football is played in competition.
The magazine France Football had taken the wise precaution not to invite this time DJ Martin Solveig, whose clumsiness sexist a year ago – he had launched the winner: "Do you know twerker? " – went around the world.
Top scorer (six goals) and best player of the women's World Cup this summer in France, already voted best player of the year by the International Football Federation (FIFA), the captain of the United States (50 goals in 158 matches) has crushed all its aura the season.
In the eighth and quarterfinals of the World Cup, she scored a fatal double for the Spanish and the French, before opening the penalty spot in the final won against the Dutch.
Personality off the field
Brandi Chastain, his compatriot double world champion 1991 and 1999, delivers his feeling:
"Megan Rapinoe is an excellent choice and, in my opinion, the only player who deserves this award. She led her team to World Cup victory by scoring crucial goals and she represents a permanent danger to the opponent in a dominating US team. She is a kind of mixed between a physical player, who does not spare her trouble in the recovery of the ball and a comfortable player foot ball, who possesses the most silky technique. And it's finally a player who loves more than anything else. "
The offensive midfielder Reign FC (Washington State), briefly passed by the Olympique Lyonnais during the 2013-2014 season, not only hurts the opposing defenses on his left wing. The Californian is also distinguished by her personality off the field.
A significant extra quality when we detail the Ballon d'Or's voting criteria: individual and collective performances, class and career. What make his victory even more obvious.
Charismatic, ultra-dressed, with her hair drifting through the seasons from blonde to gray to purple, the footballer is a long-time political activist for the rights of women, LGBT + and minorities. She was one of the first renowned players to come out in 2012.
Before, during and after the World Cup, she publicly opposed Donald Trump, refusing any invitation from the President to the White House. In an America where patriotism is not an empty word, she refuses to sing the American anthem, in support of the boycott movement launched by Colin Kaepernick, the American football player, to protest the police brutality against blacks.
Brandi Chastain continues:
"Her bravado and manner of claiming, what a footballer can look like, what she can do and what she can be, has opened the eyes of many people around the world. She makes her voice heard publicly with impatience and vigor never seen before. This may be controversial because of the language used and the forum it uses and which does not belong to it, but these difficult times require drastic measures. "
Megan Rapinoe demonstrated this political dimension by receiving the FIFA Best Award in September: " We have a unique opportunity to use this beautiful game to change the world for the better "she had said to the audience.
What better ambassador than the global icon of women's football to bring credibility and brilliance to a nascent reward? After the young Norwegian Hegerberg (24 years old) and with the quasi-veteran Rapinoe, the beginnings of the Women's Golden Ball are successful: no lack of taste on the horizon.
