How did Michael Owen win the Ballon D'Or?

In 2001, Michael Owen won the Ballon D'Or. This is the ranking of the top 5:

1. Michael Owen - Liverpool - 176 points
2. Raúl - Real Madrid - 140 points
3. Oliver Kahn - Bayern Munich - 114 points
4. David Beckham - Manchester United - 102 points
5. Francesco Totti - Roma - 57 points

How in the world did Michael Owen win the Ballon D'Or? What about his performances made him better than Raúl? Because I think that it was a robbery, and probably the worst of this millennium.

Berbatov wrote:In 2001, Michael Owen won the Ballon D'Or. This is the ranking of the top 5:

1. Michael Owen - Liverpool - 176 points
2. Raúl - Real Madrid - 140 points
3. Oliver Kahn - Bayern Munich - 114 points
4. David Beckham - Manchester United - 102 points
5. Francesco Totti - Roma - 57 points

How in the world did Michael Owen win the Ballon D'Or? What about his performances made him better than Raúl? Because I think that it was a robbery, and probably the worst of this millennium.

Proof that Ballon d'or ain't the absolute thruth.

Hype my friend. The answer is Hype.

I remember this back in the day, him winning

From that moment i have never been able to take it seriously.

Ballon d'or  

He was the hottest "young" striker and was key in Liverpool winning a treble.

He probably didn't deserve the Ballon D'Or but you people make it out as if he was horrible. He wasn't. You could probably argue that him winning this stupid 'trophy' is the reason he ruined his career running to Madrid though...

I remember he was totally unplayable that year. Truth is that Owen has been a busted flush for some time now, a player over-reliant on speed who lost his pace, and old-fashioned type of forward who needed a particular type of player. either target man or creator, alongside him. In Peter Crouch, Stoke seemed to have just such a foil, but even then Owen couldn't produce. let down by his body and failure to adapt his game. He, and forwards of his ilk, really are the past.

Berbatov wrote:In 2001, Michael Owen won the Ballon D'Or. This is the ranking of the top 5:

1. Michael Owen - Liverpool - 176 points
2. Raúl - Real Madrid - 140 points
3. Oliver Kahn - Bayern Munich - 114 points
4. David Beckham - Manchester United - 102 points
5. Francesco Totti - Roma - 57 points

How in the world did Michael Owen win the Ballon D'Or? What about his performances made him better than Raúl? Because I think that it was a robbery, and probably the worst of this millennium.

Nirgall wrote:Hype my friend. The answer is Hype.

Hype!! Michael Owen was a machine of a player in his early days, not only was he a poacher but his pace would blow players away, that season he was far and away the top player.

Is this a case of young lads writing players off based upon how they looked when they seen them in decline, it seems common place on this forum. I suppose some on here think Ryan Giggs has been a play making midfielder all his career, totally missing out over a decade of his amazing wing play.

The whole top 4 is a joke.

futbol wrote:The whole top 4 is a joke.

no barca players you mad

And to add to the topic, this is probably the biggest Robbery ever

halamadrid2 wrote:

futbol wrote:The whole top 4 is a joke.

no barca players you mad

Hala, pls go.  The equivalent of that list as of 2013 would be something like:

1. Huntelaar
2. Lewandowski
3. Casillas
4. Neymar

You are all aware it's based around performances that calender year, so Owen guided Liverpool to a domestic cup and Uefa cup treble, Beckham had the season of his life with that famous last minute free kick against Greece, Khan guided Bayern to the Champions league title and Raul was just a goalscoring genius.

What more needs to be said, they all excelled in that year.

Owen has scored 16 goals in 28 games in the PL that season as a poaching centerforward who had nothing else to his game. Furthermore this was the top 5 in the PL that season:

1. United
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Leeds
5. Ipswich

Guess who Owen failed to score against. All teams bar Arsenal at home in a 4-0 trashing.

Liverpool winning some Super Cups doesn't make him a worthy "World Player Of The Year" or we can justify that tag for pretty much any random centerforward playing for any random top 5 club.

And no, Owen never was that amazing prospect who people don't remember anymore after his injuries. He always was what you get when you put Walcott into the CF position. Lots of pace and a decent goal output.

futbol wrote:Owen has scored 16 goals in 28 games in the PL that season as a poaching centerforward who had nothing else to his game. Furthermore this was the top 5 in the PL that season:

1. United
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Leeds
5. Ipswich

Guess who Owen failed to score against. All teams bar Arsenal at home in a 4-0 trashing.

Liverpool winning some Super Cups doesn't make him a worthy "World Player Of The Year" or we can justify that tag for pretty much any random centerforward playing for any random top 5 club.

And no, Owen never was that amazing prospect who people don't remember anymore after his injuries. He always was what you get when you put Walcott into the CF position. Lots of pace and a decent goal output.

Ok, that is one of the 4 "jokes", now do Raul, the 2001 league winner and best scorer, and CL SF and best scorer that season. Then do Kahn, who won Bundesliga and CL that season. You can skip Beckham, if you want

Owen scored 13 goals in his season with Madrid despite playing third fiddle to Raúl and Ronaldo (arguably two of the best CFs at the time). He had the highest goal/minutes player ratio that year, yet he was sold to Newcastle after being deemed surplus to requirements.

He had a fantastic goal record, especially for a youngster at Liverpool, and also scored many, many important goals for country as well.

Did he deserve the golden ball in 2001? Perhaps not but don't compare him to Walcott ffs

炒作流氓

(Posted by my girlfriend who doesn't speak english)

Owen didnt deserve shit and it really is a shame that Del Piero and Totti don't have this award but flop Owen does

juveman17 wrote:Owen didnt deserve shit and it really is a shame that Del Piero and Totti don't have this award but flop Owen does

what?

The question is, why the hell didn't he win at least 3?

futbol wrote:Owen has scored 16 goals in 28 games in the PL that season as a poaching centerforward who had nothing else to his game. Furthermore this was the top 5 in the PL that season:

1. United
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Leeds
5. Ipswich

Guess who Owen failed to score against. All teams bar Arsenal at home in a 4-0 trashing.

Liverpool winning some Super Cups doesn't make him a worthy "World Player Of The Year" or we can justify that tag for pretty much any random centerforward playing for any random top 5 club.

And no, Owen never was that amazing prospect who people don't remember anymore after his injuries. He always was what you get when you put Walcott into the CF position. Lots of pace and a decent goal output.

Are you seriously comparing a fit and young Michael Owen to Theo Walcott:lol:   

I will avoid your opinion whilst I post on here as you clearly haven't a clue what you're talking about, having said that I will look out for your posts as I'm assuming you're a kid who doesn't really know what the hell he's talking about.

Owen maybe is one of the biggest shock names on the list of previous winners but the simple fact is he was explosive and dangerous as a young player and for a period was more than likely one of the best strikers on the planet, Theo Walcott isn't fit to clean his boots never mind be compared to him.

I remember that, not as fondly as I remember last night but I do remember that season some bit. He was quite playable, not sure about this unplayable thing I read but his form for Liverpool was really good. I don't think he deserved to win but it isn't something outlandish as Heskey winning it.

Also, I truly believe it had a lot to do with England beating Germany 5-1 in Germany that year with him scoring a hattrick.

The award wasn't given to the best player, but the player who made the most impact that year.

Owen single handedly won Liverpool the FA cup and carried them, literally to the Champions league where he won games on his own. Internationals, he scored a hattrick against Germany while also scoring that goal against Argentina and playing a huge role in the qualifications later on.

Players like Rivaldo, Figo were obviously better but his impact probably won him the award. Not that I agree with it, but it's not that outrageous.

In fact, the English media themselves didn't try to hype Owen winning it since most of them thought and said that Beckham should have won it.

RealGunner wrote:

juveman17 wrote:Owen didnt deserve shit and it really is a shame that Del Piero and Totti don't have this award but flop Owen does

what?

Do you know how to read RG? What's wrong with what I said? If Owen has one but two greater players such as Del Piero and Totti don't have the Balon D'or then it's a shame and a disgrace

Can't believe ADP never got the award

juveman17 wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

juveman17 wrote:Owen didnt deserve shit and it really is a shame that Del Piero and Totti don't have this award but flop Owen does

what?

Do you know how to read RG? What's wrong with what I said? If Owen has one but two greater players such as Del Piero and Totti don't have the Balon D'or then it's a shame and a disgrace

You were like 4 when Owen won the Balon d'Or and i just explained why he won that award. Care to explain why he didn't 'deserve shit'? Also please explain what do you mean by "flop owen"

Del Piero didn't win it because a better player always won it ahead of him since he played in a difficult era. His best seasons always had someone else who did even better than him, such as Ronaldo or Zidane. Totti did deserve it over Owen in 2001 IMO but he didn't win it, like Henry didn't win it when he should have in 2003 but oh well.

The award doesn't become a 'shame and a disgrace' if your favourite players didn't win it(even if the award is very controversial due to the other reasons). 100s of Journalists from all over the world voted for the winners. If they all thought Owen deserved it, then it's their choice.

Fair enough I wasn't sure what you meant by what

But it's still a shame that Owen managed one and Del Piero didn't