The threshold of seniority here isn't as severe as with the Golden Ball Award.
However… not everyone is satisfied with the World Footballer of the Year either.
Because this award actually puts more weight on a player's global fame.
Lu Yang's rapid surge in the rankings, part of it is his achievements, but his massive popularity, traffic and controversy are probably the real key.
It's even possible that Sofia helped bump Lu Yang up by three to five places in there.
The clearest reflection of this is in the rankings of the players at the top.
Gutierrez, whose global popularity isn't that high, only sits ninth in the World Footballer of the Year.
Compared to his performance over the whole of last year, this ranking is a bit low.
Barça's Mateo is still in tenth place, which is obviously too high.
Whether it's in the Golden Ball Award or the World Footballer of the Year, his ranking is inflated, and that has a lot to do with Barça's full backing.
