Controversy in France: Claims PSG pressured Messi to win Ballon d’Or in 2021

He Golden Ball is always a source of controversy, even if debate involves Lionel Messiconsecrated among the best in history and eight times winner of the prize awarded annually by the French magazine France Football.

However, this time the current opinions are actually a journalistic investigation launched by two other media outlets in the country, le Monde AND Mediapartthat guarantee it Paris Saint-Germain presses for Messi to win the seventh edition, in 2021when he spent his first months in the French capital.

In the report of these two publications the main person responsible for the “agreement” is mentioned. Pasquale Farréformer director of France Football and for months responsible for communications at PSG.

According to them, the link between the journalist and the institution managed with Qatari funds actually goes beyond this episode linked to the Ballon d’Or and which involved Messi.

In those years the club also intervened to eliminate an investigation published in The Teambelonging to the group Artemiswhich also includes France Football, where this was reported Al Khelaifipresident of PSG, allegedly received illegal commissions for the purchase of Javier Pastore in 2011.

According to Le Monde and Mediapart, Ferré received VIP tickets to see PSG, including a match behind closed doors during the pandemic, and a business class flight on the Qatar Airways line estimated to be worth almost $9,000.

Regarding Messi’s Ballon d’Or in 2021, the report also records a police investigation into PSG’s former head of communications, Jean-Martial Ribes, detailing some messages talking about “lobbying” and organization of a lunch with Ferré.

Pascal Ferré denied the accusations

After the explosive revelation, Pascal Ferré denied the versions spread by The Monde and Mediapart. In his argument, the former director of France Football explains that Messi was not nominated for the following year’s award, while recalling that in 2021 he did not even vote for the Argentine since he decided on the option by Robert Lewandowski.

In turn, the current communications director of PSG denied that France Football took care of the interests of the Parisian club, and exemplified this by recalling a special issue from 2010 entitled “Qatar Gate”, in which he talked about the assignment World Cup fraud. questioned in 2022 in that country.

This version of the Ballon d’Or adds further extra-football conflicts to a PSG that from a sporting point of view continues to enjoy the magic and goals of Killian Mbappecurrently.

It was recently reported that Gerald Darmanin, the current French Interior Minister, helped the Parisian team avoid paying Neymar’s transfer fees in 2017.