Vertonghen Predicts End To Ballon D'or Duopoly
Former Belgium defender Jan Vertonghen has predicted an end to the duopoly of the Ballon D'or award.
The greatest individual honour in world football has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the past 15 years, with the former taking home his eighth and probably final award on Monday.
Luka Modric and Karim Benzema are the only other players to have laid hands on the golden ball in the same time frame.
With Messi and Ronaldo now in the twilight of their careers and plying their trades outside Europe, a new crop of talents are emerging.
Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe look likely to be the new contenders for the Ballon D'or for the next few years but Vertonghen does not believe they will dominate like Messi and Ronaldo did.
"I don't think it's going to be two guys dominating for the next 15 years," Vertonghen, an Athlete Partner for APEX, told Stats Perform.
"There are a lot of massive talents. Obviously, you've got Haaland and Mbappe already there for a couple of years, but then if you look at [Jude] Bellingham, what he's doing now, [Jamal] Musiala, I love him, Phil Foden, Vinicius [Junior].
"Those are the young guys. I hope one day a defender or even a goalkeeper [can win]. Thibaut Courtois was very close the year [Real Madrid] won the Champions League.
"I'm probably forgetting 10 or 15 more names. With Belgium, we have a great couple of young guys. There's so many, and I hope one day it could go to a Belgian one."
