Former France Football director calls Mbappé’s Ballon d’Or nomination strange

The former director of France Football says it is “strange” to nominate Mbappé for the Ballon d’Or. In the same exchange, Ferré addressed questions about possible pressure from Florentino Pérez, Real Madrid’s president, in favour of the Merengues’ players: “Pérez likes this prize, but he has never sent me a message or hinted at anything, even indirectly.”

Ferré said, however, that he had been approached by an agent whose client was among the nominees. “He explained his merits to me, then asked whether he could promote his candidacy to the jury. Of course, I refused,” he recounted.

He also described an episode whose significance, he says, he does not know. After stepping away from the table to take a phone call, he found an envelope there when he returned. He says he picked it up and left it at reception, without knowing what was inside. He added that he had since met the agent again, but the agent had never brought up the incident. The account does not establish what the envelope contained.

Ferré also recalled telling Luka Modrić that he had won the award. After the votes were counted, Ferré called him but got no answer; Modrić called back a few minutes later. Ferré says he then gave him the news: the player was silent at first, then began to cry. He later told Ferré that he had been so moved he could not speak. Speaking about Karim Benzema, Ferré praised his composure on the phone. A few days after the call, Benzema reportedly apologised and explained that he had wanted to shout, but was surrounded by teammates and knew he had to keep the news secret.

Ferré believes that revealing the winner only on the night of the ceremony builds suspense, while making things less practical for clubs and players. He also compared the campaigns of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal: in his view, Mbappé had the better campaign, but “the Ballon d’Or is not something you ask for; you earn it.” He also considers Mbappé’s campaign ineffective, and says the voters are independent and experienced.

His assessment of the sporting case is nevertheless firm: Ferré calls Mbappé a wonderful player, but says he would not vote for him. He notes that Mbappé was among the few nominees who had won no titles that season, and argues that it is difficult to regard someone as the world’s best player without a collective victory, since football is a team sport.