Luis Suarez 'Prefers To Stay Quiet' About 2014 Ballon D'Or Snub

Luis Suarez Ballon d'Or Luis Suarez won’t complain openly about being snubbed for the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or Award.

When FIFA unveiled the 23 Ballon d’Or nominees last week, Suarez’s name did not appear on the list.

It was a head-scratching decision, as Suarez won both of England’s major Player of the Year awards and led Europe goal-scoring as a Liverpool player in 2013-14. Suarez also scored two goals at the 2014 FIFA World Cup before he was banned for four months for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Suarez finally spoke about his Ballon d’Or snub Monday, saying that he deserved to be nominated.

“They had already said to me that they had chosen me as the best player in the most difficult league in the world, or one of the most difficult, so it jumps out,” Suarez told Catalan station Rac 1, according to ESPN. “I was also the leading scorer in the European leagues. But I prefer to stay quiet about these things, because every time I speak it can be a problem.”

Suarez served his ban and finally returned to action on Oct. 25 when Barcelona faced Real Madrid. Suarez assisted Neymar’s opening goal in Barcelona’s 3-1 loss and now has played two games (both ending in defeat) for his new team.

Suarez probably wouldn’t have won the 2014 Ballon d’Or Award. Cristiano Ronaldo is the odds-on favorite to claim it, and Suarez missed the first two months of the 2014-15 season.

But FIFA denied Suarez the chance to make his case to the voters. The decision was arbitrary and seems to punish Suarez again for last summer’s high-profile offense.