My Tragic Story with Su Dong

With the announcement of the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or, the world's media once again thrust Su Dong into the spotlight overnight.

The media and fans generally praised Su Dong for winning the honor once again, but there was also some controversy, mainly because of the blank space in his national-team record.

In previous years, when there was no major tournament, the winner was judged mainly on club performances, especially in the Champions League. Su Dong's victory could therefore be called thoroughly deserved. But this year was a World Cup year, and in such years, national-team performances were often the main reference.

If the World Cup had been the basis, then Xavi and Iniesta, the Spanish internationals playing for Barcelona, would undoubtedly have been the overwhelming favorites. Xavi was the midfield core, while Iniesta had scored the winning goal in the final. Whoever won between them would have been thoroughly deserving.

But no one had expected the final winner to be Su Dong.

It had to be said that this counted as a major "upset."

The so-called upset did not mean that no one had favored Su Dong. On the contrary, many media outlets and professionals had backed him before the ceremony, believing that his club performances—especially his historic achievement of leading Bayern Munich to successfully defend their treble—were unprecedented in world football and could be called truly great.

On top of that, after joining Man City, his form had continued to rise, and his performances had been outstanding.

It could be said that judging purely by performance, Su Dong's victory was beyond doubt.

The upset lay in the fact that, in a World Cup year, Su Dong's national-team record was a blank slate. That naturally made his victory controversial, especially since the two biggest heroes of Spain's World Cup triumph