Harry Kane has deliberately chosen not to run an aggressive campaign on his own behalf in the race for the Ballon d’Or. The Bayern star recently explained that it simply isn’t in his nature to publicly present himself as the best player in the world. Statements by Pascal Ferré now show that this restraint doesn’t necessarily have to be a disadvantage.
Ferré knows how the voting works. The former editor-in-chief of France Football was long responsible for organizing the Ballon d’Or. In an interview with Le Parisien, he made it clear that an aggressive public campaign can actually backfire.
“The voters aren’t naive. They have both the experience and the judgment needed to assess and evaluate a player without having to hear ten or fifteen times that he’s the best.”
Can too much Ballon d’Or campaigning actually be harmful?
Ahead of this year’s award ceremony, there has been a striking amount of discussion about the candidates’ public self-promotion. Kane recently stated that every player must decide for himself how aggressively he communicates his ambitions.
The Englishman, however, does not want to go down that path. While he described himself as “definitely in the running for the title,” he also emphasized that praise from teammates, former pros, and others makes him prouder than constantly talking about his own achievements.
According to Ferré, too much self-promotion could even cause irritation among the journalists who are eligible to vote.
“When I say that you can lose the Ballon d’Or on the communication front, I mean that a player is in the spotlight in an uncomfortable way and gives voters the impression that they’re being pressured into a decision.”
Ferré warns against “manipulation”
From the perspective of the former France Football editor-in-chief, the situation becomes particularly critical when a normal campaign gives the impression of a deliberate attempt to influence voters.
“This kind of fuss that some people create can eventually irritate voters. Because then the manipulation becomes quite obvious.”
Ferré did not specifically refer to Kane or any particular competitor in his remarks. However, his assessment aligns with recent reports about this year’s voting. Several Ballon d’Or jurors told RMC Sport that they do not want to be influenced by social media campaigns or by attempts to contact them from the circles of nominated players.
For Kane, this by no means automatically gives him an advantage in the voting. It does, however, show that his low-key strategy doesn’t necessarily work against him.
The Bayern striker recently made his stance clear: his performances should speak for themselves. If others subsequently conclude that these are good enough for the Ballon d’Or, he would prefer that to a large-scale campaign on his own behalf.