The Ballon d’Or doesn’t capture football’s wonder – Michael Olise is proof | Zito Madu

France’s always-cool winger has crowds hanging on his every move – adulation that means more than any title could When I was younger, I wanted to be the captain on my football team because back then, I assumed that the armband was given to the best player.

It was a goal of mine for so long that, even as my youth teams won tournaments and trophies, and I won top scorer and best player awards, I still felt unsatisfied because someone else always had the armband.

Whenever I saw another teammate sprinting around with the armband on, I took it as an indictment. I had forgotten this childish way of thinking until France v Belgium in the Uefa Nations League last week.

Rumour · This claim is unconfirmed.