Why Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo could each win a World Player of the Year award

Looked at one way, this might be sort of fair.

In the coinciding primes of soccer superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are surely the greatest players to ever grace the game, only one could win the FIFA Ballon d’Or as the planet’s greatest player each year. Messi won it in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Ronaldo took it in 2013 and 2014. And Messi has claimed the 2015 edition. Since he’s already won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and Euro 2016 with Portugal this year, Ronaldo seems like a lock to take it back from the Argentine.

Except that there will likely be two awards to give out this year.

The Ballon d’Or, handed out by the France Football magazine and voted on by journalists the world over, merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year – awarded by national team head coaches and captains – in 2010. Then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter apparently paid the magazine 15 million euros for the rights to its award to unify the two major individual prizes in the game.

Before they merged, Messi had swept both prizes in 2009 while Ronaldo did the same in 2008. But now, the awards will split up again as new FIFA president Gianni Infantino let the contract with France Football lapse, per AS.

It isn’t yet clear if FIFA will resume giving out its own award, but given the game’s global governing body’s monopolist tendencies, it seems a safe bet.

Assuming we go back to two prizes, it bears watching which way the respective voting constituencies will break. Before 2010, they often agreed. From 2005 through 2009, both prizes went to the same player – Ronaldinho, Fabio Cannavaro, Kaka, Ronaldo and Messi, respectively. Before that, however, they differed for five straight years.

Logically, the two prizes will be judged in different ways. If their voting formats go back to what they were, the Ballon d’Or will be given out by those on the periphery of the game – the journalists. The FIFA World Player of the Year will be handed out by active national team head coaches and captains.

They might take different views to who was the best and why.

Which could mean that, between Messi and Ronaldo, everybody might get a prize, like some youth league that doesn’t want to disappoint anyone.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.