Favour or Ojoro?

Albert Olatunde Oloruntoba

Courtesy: Google Image

Favour or Ojoro?

When my friend Adeola said, “sometimes and many times … we are gifted what we may not deserve … like the gift of breath. Life is a gift … make we stay grateful” on our Super NSS Res League WhatsApp Group (if you are wondering, yes, I play football and captain the University of Pretoria, Nigerian Football Team), in relation to our debate about the recently concluded Ballon d’Or 2023 award night in Paris, I was again drawn to reflect on Esau-Jacob story.  When Jacob in the book of Genesis chapter 25 cheated his twin brother, Esau right from the womb to acquire what belonged to his brother, the Bible acknowledged that he was the favoured child. Through the tricks and deceit of his mother, coupled with Esau’s own carelessness, Jacob stole the blessing that was meant for his brother. I still find this story really puzzling till this day but what is not puzzling to me is my embrace of all the Jacobian favour, and my rejection of Esau’s disfavour and misfortune. But that does not mean that I have found an answer yet (and I have asked pastors and people) as to why an unborn Esau would be hated and unborn Jacob would be loved. The Bible says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Romans 9:13), why? I still have not gotten a convincing answer. But that is not my question today, I write about one football GOAT, Lionel Messi, and his 8^th Ballon d’Or Award.

Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest person to ever played football had initially become FIFA men best player of the year in 2022, the year him and his national team won the FIFA World Cup, but when the popular football journalist, Fabrizio Romano tweeted on X on 25^th of October that Messi was going to receive his 8^th Ballon d’Or award in Paris, it caused debates among football fans especially, those who question the merit for his award ahead of others. There is no need to revisit history but the questions about Messi’s merit for the award are legitimate, even in the eyes of some of Messi’s die-hard fans. The 36-year-old superstar had won the 2022 FIFA World Cup which lasted for a period of a month between November 20 and December 18, 2022, hosted for the first time on an Arabian soil, Qatar and won the player of the tournament ward. Most times, when contestants for the FIFA Footballer of the Year potential winners are neck-in-neck, and it is a World Cup year, World Cup performance could be considered as an extra yardstick to determine who edged the year. But in a season such as 2022/2023 where there is an outstanding player who had a more successful season than the ‘GOAT’, ‘gifting’ the award to him just because he won a world cup where only 7 games were played in a period of one month, for an award that is supposed to be based on the performance of a whole season of one-calendar year, is a sacrilege (for want of a better word) and somewhat the adulation of favour over merit – na real ojoro be dat.

In the 2022/2023 season, Erling Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 appearances for his club Manchester City, winning a treble of the Premier League, Champions League, and the FA Cup. For his country, he scored 6 goals in 5 appearances, a total of 58 goals in a season, being the highest goal scorer in Europe. But he was denied the award in favour of Messi who was not even the player of the season in his club PSG, neither was he the player of the season in his league, League 1, which is a far less superior league in comparison to the EPL. To fail to win the best player in your club and your league, only to jump straight to winning best player in the world just because of a 7 world cup games is exactly a trophy of favour and not merit. His fans argue that being the highest goal scorer does not count because Messi was more influential in games, but why do they always have to shift the ‘post to suit Messi every time he is the one shooting’?. In 2010, although Wesley Sneijder did not win the world cup, he got to the final, was player of the tournament, won a treble of the Serie A, Champions League, and Coppa Italia with his club Inter Milan but as FIFA’s favourite child, Messi was awarded the trophy for the exact reason Haaland was denied today, outscoring every football player in Europe with 58 goals. As I said, requirements for the award always fluctuates to suit Messi, he is the Jacob of football after all.

I have to say though, this is not Messi’s fault in anyway just like it was not Jacob’s fault for deceitfully taking what originally belonged to Esau, it is FIFA, the power that controls the awarding of the trophy, that should be questioned. And as a human being, Messi would not reject the award even though when he received the award in Paris, he acknowledged that “Erling deserved it very much too, he has won Premier League, Champions League while being top scorer of everything. This award could have been yours today too”. Although with his good gestures in the way he recognizes the fact that Haaland very much deserved it, the gesture does not in anyway validate the fact that Haaland is more deserving of the award than him. But again, just as Adeola said, “sometimes and many times … we are gifted what we may not deserve. Make we stay grateful”. Favour or Ojoro, the questions will be asked for many years.