BARBRA BANDA PHOTO VIA ORLANDO PRIDE FACEBOOK PAGE
Orlando Pride continue to make the City Beautiful proud with nominations for the Ballon d’Or – which, we have to be honest, we keep pronouncing as “balloon” around Shine headquarters. Our ignorance aside, the Ballon d’Or, which translates to “gold ball,” is considered the most prestigious award in world soccer.
Pride’s Barbra Banda received her second nomination, and Marta Vieira da Silva received her third for the Ballon d’Or Féminin. Orlando Pride itself is nominated for Women’s Club of the Year alongside Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Lyon; Pride is the first NWSL team to be nominated in this category.
The Ballon d’Or is presented by France Football, a monthly magazine that has been covering global soccer since 1946. They founded the Ballon d’Or in 1956 and began to include women in 2018.
Orlando Pride remain the city’s only major league champions and, as of this writing, they are in the top three this season. It’s worth noting that Orlando Sentinel sportswriter Mike Bianchi recently made a solid case that Marta is the GOAT of Orlando sports. And yes, he does consider the achievements of Arnie, Shaq, Tiger, and others in his assessment that you can read HERE.
We’ll find out how it all turns out on September 22, when the Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place in Paris. Our fingers are crossed for an f-bomb in her acceptance speech, if Marta wins.
