Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has criticised FIFA’s Ballon d’Or award given to the world’s best player for glorifying the individual at the expense of the team.
The Portuguese coach found rare common ground with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, another critic of the award which has been dominated in recent seasons by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
“I think Wenger said something that is interesting,” Mourinho said in an interview on the Telegraph website.
“He is against the Ballon d’Or, and I think he’s right, because in this moment football is losing a little bit the concept of the team to focus more on the individual.
“We are always looking at the individual performance, the individual stat, the player that runs more. Because you run 11km in a game and I run nine you did a better job than I did? Maybe not. Maybe my 9km were more important than your 11.
“For me, football is collective. The individual is welcome if you want to make our group better. But you have to work for us, not we have to work for you.
“When the top player arrives, the team is already there. It’s not him who comes to discover the team, like Columbus discovering America. No, no, you are coming now to help us be better.”
Messi and Ronaldo have hogged the award, formerly known as World Player of the Year, since 2008 and the last non-striker to take the honour was Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.
Mourinho also spoke about his first job, teaching children with Down’s syndrome and severe mental disabilities.
“I wasn’t technically ready to help these kids,” he said.
“And I had success only because of one thing, the emotional relation that was established with them.
“I did little miracles only because of the relationship. Affection, touch, empathy — only because of that. There was one kid that refused all his life to walk up stairs.
“Another one that couldn’t coordinate the simplest movement — all these different problems, and we had success in many, many of these cases only based on that empathy.”
Mourinho’s Chelsea hold a seven-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and are eight points clear of Manchester United in third, with a game in hand over both their title rivals.
They are away to west London rivals Queens Park Rangers on Sunday.
