Johan Cruyff managed to find his exact place on the pitch
This is the introductory article of “France Football” in the issue dedicated to the “Golden Ball” in 1994. The author is the editor-in-chief of the magazine, François de Montvalon, who voted in the poll.
If measures are not taken, the traditional France Football poll, which annually determines the winner of Europe’s Ballon d’Or, could soon lead to unrest. We at FF will try to intervene by adding a fairplay reward to our trophy to prevent the danger of some challengers and their teams going to a public fight pending the announcement of the results. After
has become the film equivalent of the Oscars,
The “Golden Ball” evokes ambitions that make some feel dizzy. This year, when a Bulgarian from Spain was competing with two Italians, things got even rougher. Stoichkov, who lost the Champions League final, Maldini, who won it with Milan at the expense of Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona, ​​and Roberto Baggio, the last winner. For those who analyze the bounces of the round ball, it is a collision of a striker with a defender, or the madness that professional players already lack against elegance and classicism.
Since its creation in 1956. on the idea of ​​Gabriel Ano, the “Golden Ball” has hardly changed its principles. The 16 who initially selected the great Stanley Matthews are now 49 and the fax machine has replaced the carrier pigeon and the letter. No one is confused when counting the ballots of our specialists and only our new winner Hristo Stoichkov can imagine that in 1992 Marco van Basten has taken away his dream and that he has become the victim of a conspiracy by the televisions of Berlusconi, the strong man in “Milan”. It’s just that they preferred the Dutch center forward then, because
they could not accept the big mouth
and stubbornness, which, according to the voters, prevented the Bulgarian from deserving the highest honor. We were sorry, but that was the majority vote.
Now we will not weep for joy that the defeated of 1992. is already a winner. Hristo Stoichko Parvi is the 39th winner of the Golden Ball. The man with the fat head
became a man of art
and joined the team of jewelers and sellers of dreams, the team of Platini, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Yashin, Coppa and Di Stefano. Can it be compared to them? No one will ever answer that question unless they want to compare the peerless, leather ball of yesteryear with the shiny, lightning-fast sphere that is the symbol of modern football, somewhat a victim of its own success.
Hristo Stoichkov is our king
and that’s just the fairest thing. He just achieved his childhood dream.
Stoichkov is an element of the picture of modern football. Neither mad nor wise. Simply, he is a unique image of the total spectacle, in which the role of the footballer is greater than that of being only a player. The facial expressions, the apparent aggression, the theatrical gestures, the haughty demeanor moments before he turned back into one of the inspired guys on the pitch. All this makes him a special character that the keen cameras skillfully capture.
But this year, it wasn’t the actor with the defiant behavior who won, but the player. Complex – fine or rough, capable of hard entry or flying like a bird, an individualist with a unique dribble or capable of incredible passes, an ideal partner for the Brazilian Romario in the attack of “Barcelona”.
Enough will never be said about Cruyff’s role for
the metamorphosis of the gloomy Bulgarian,
who once played with the shirt of CSKA (Sofia) against “Olympic” (Marseille). Cruyff managed to find Stoichkov’s exact place on the pitch – neither a central striker nor a left winger, but a man who wins space. Cruyff managed convincingly to control this man with a big mouth, but without restricting his freedom. Moreover, he inscribed the greatest individualist in European football into the most collective tactical and technical scheme of the Old Continent. The “Golden Ball” of Hristo Stoichkov is to some extent the fourth for Johan Cruyff.
One man’s win is another’s loss and that goes for previous winner Roberto Baggio. The “Juventus” playmaker suffered from injuries and had to make an incredible effort to defend his title. The World Cup and the final reached against Brazil is an example of this. But his season was filled with more lows than highs to threaten Stoichkov. The case was different with Paolo Maldini, who finished third. Like his Milan teammate Franco Baresi Maldini risks never succeeding Franz Beckenbauer as the only defender with the Ballon d’Or (along with goalkeeper Yashin). Despite the decline in the regime in the autumn, Maldini managed to be consistent for a long time during the year. But the “Golden Ball” and football
distinguish the one that stands out
or lead the collective game. Footballers who are less common these days, and this is shown by the ranking for the year, in which Hristo Stoichkov ran over everything and everyone.