Marc Cucurella has acknowledged an ambition that few defenders state publicly: he would like to win the Ballon d’Or. Speaking to AS, the Chelsea left back was candid about both his hope and the realism that comes with it.<\/p>\n
Cucurella referenced the broader context in which individual ambition can drive high-profile moves. One of the perceived driving forces behind Trent Alexander-Arnold choosing to join Real Madrid this summer was his personal ambition to win the Ballon d’Or and write that history. Alexander-Arnold is not nominated in 2025, but Cucurella now finds himself mentioned among possible future contenders.<\/p>\n
The defender arrives at that discussion on the back of significant recent achievements. He played key roles in Chelsea’s recent triumphs and was part of Spain’s Euro 2024 success. Chelsea enter the 2025\/26 campaign as Premier League title challengers, and the next international tournament could offer further opportunities. Should La Roja prevail at the World Cup in 2026, it is likely that Cucurella will have contributed significantly.<\/p>\n
When asked directly if he could win the Ballon d’Or, Cucurella did not close the door.<\/p>\n
“Well, I don\u2019t know…anything can happen!”<\/p>\n
He tempered that optimism with a reminder of how rare such recognition is for defenders.<\/p>\n
“I wish, but it would be very difficult. It would certainly be historic, and on a personal level, it would be unforgettable. But it\u2019s not easy.”<\/p>\n
Cucurella also reflected on the focus of voters and television audiences, pointing to the natural advantage enjoyed by goalscorers and more attacking players.<\/p>\n
“Well, in the end, people focus on the forwards. They turn on the TV and want to see the ones who score goals…and I\u2019m the first! I understand that those who vote for those who have the most entertaining games, but a defender [centre back] has won before, and it could happen again.”<\/p>\n
The comments underline a blend of personal ambition and hard-nosed appraisal of how individual awards are decided, delivered at a moment when club and international platforms could elevate Cucurella’s profile further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cucurella says he hopes for the Ballon d’Or while accepting it would be very difficult to win. 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-epl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}