Yeah, that’s how superstitions work. People only talk about it if it “could” be true, not once it’s proven to not be true.

Remember all the people talking about 2012 being the end of the world back in 2011/12? How many people talked about it in 2013? Or Y2K in '99 being forgotten about shortly afterwards.

Why would football superstitions be any different?

What makes a team like Brighton or West Ham so much bigger than teams like Wolves, Palace or Forest?

The whole ″big x″ idea is silly and outdated. Just let it die.

Man City, Barcelona, Roma, Dortmund and PSV.

Ballon d’Or is no longer a calendar year award. It’s been awarded based on the season, ie. Jul 22 - Jun 23, for the last few years now.

Thanks for this. Really helps to see a breakdown of titles during the period in question!

Don’t try and be ″completely objective″. The ballon d’or is a subjective award, always has been and always will be. It’s literally impossible for a best player award to be objective.

As for your argument, record winners means nothing. The Copa America is a highly competitive competition and winning it means a lot for any country, it doesn’t matter how many times they’ve won it before. Would you use the same argument if Brazil sweep all before them and romp to a 2026 WC win? ″they’re record WC winners already, so it’s not impressive″? No, because that would be silly. Brazil’s previous wins wouldn’t make a 2026 win any less impressive!