“Close to Being Dishonest”: France Coach Deschamps Criticizes Ballon d’Or for Ignoring Mbappé

In an interview with beIN Sports, Didier Deschamps expressed his disappointment with some of the votes for the 2023 Ballon d’Or, particularly concerning Kylian Mbappé, who finished third behind Erling Haaland and the winner, Lionel Messi.

Mbappé, far from Messi and even behind Haaland, has reason to be disappointed with his third-place finish in the Ballon d’Or rankings. Didier Deschamps shares this disappointment, as some of the votes cast were rather perplexing.

For instance, a Swiss journalist’s ballot included votes for Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior, Yassine Bounou, Bernardo Silva, and Bukayo Saka, but notably excluded Kylian Mbappé from the top 5.

According to Didier Deschamps, Mbappé “deserved to win” the Ballon d’Or this year. “He deserved to win it; finishing third is already another disappointment… I’m not saying that Messi didn’t deserve it, or Haaland either. He’s young, but the years also pass. With what he’s achieved, he deserved it. I don’t need to console him. He’s obviously disappointed,” initially stated Didier Deschamps.

Regarding the voting process, he remarked, “The votes… they come from various sources. I was particularly surprised, to say the least, or even more, by some of the votes. Not including Mbappé in the top five players… I won’t say it’s dishonest, but it’s pretty close.”