Luis Suarez’s on-pitch behaviour led to Ballon d’Or snub

Luis Suarez has been subject to several field antics, especially in the current year and these have seem to be detrimental to his nomination as one of the 23 contenders for the Ballon d’Or award of 2014. The former Liverpool player has joined Barcelona this summer from Liverpool. He was perhaps one of the most notable players missing from the list that FIFA has published on Tuesday.

The forward player had scored a total of 31 goals for the Red last season giving them a very narrow miss of the coveted Premier League title. His campaign ended in much controversy during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as he bit Italian player Giorgio Chiellini during a match.

Luis Suarez as well as former Costa Rican coach Pinto were absent among the list of nominees for the Ballon d’Or and Coach of the Year Award respectively. Suarez was hit with a ban of four months by FIFA. The suspension ended when he played the first time for Barcelona against Real Madrid last Saturday. Many supporters are of the opinion that Suarez would have made a very strong contender had he been on the list.

According to one of FIFA’s 12 criteria for the award, field performance and behavior on and off the pitch is taken into consideration. This criteria may be responsible for why Luis Suarez did not feature in the list of contenders. For the time being, Barcelona player Lionel Messi and Ronaldo of Real Madrid are set to battle to win the Ballon d’Or.