Oh Vini, Vini, Vini. Robbed of the Ballon d'Or? You ain't seen nothing yet.
The Ballon d'Or is supposed to be the most prestigious individual prize in the sport, crowning a season of glory for one lucky superstar that the world deems to be the current best in the world. Instead, its winners are derided by half the internet for not being the person that they wanted to lift the prize.
The history of the Ballon d'Or is littered with some of the greats of the game, while the likes of Pele and Maradona were never formally recognised, due to it being a European-only award. Michael Owen was the last English player to win one, Mattias Sammer has the trophy but Toni Kroos hasn't, yadda, yadda, yadda. So who really are the biggest robberies? And who are simply complaining over nothing?
10. Gianluigi Buffon should have won over Fabio Cannavaro in 2006
2006 was a difficult oeuvre for the Ballon d’Or. The most captivating player at the World Cup planted his head in the chest of an opponent on the biggest stage of all and walked down the Olympiastadion tunnel that night in disgrace, never to play football again.
Juventus’s Calciopoli nightmare, meanwhile, limited the number of stars who could feasibly win the BDO from Italy’s triumphant – yet somewhat dull – squad, as the domestic scene was tainted despite international glory. Fabio Cannavaro led the mean defence and jumped ship to Real Madrid, making him the prime candidate: but Gigi Buffon was arguably far more influential for the Azzurri and also won a title with the red-faced Juve.
The difference? The keeper stayed with the Old Lady through their relegation, making it a difficult choice for voters to plump for a second-tier player as the best in the world. The level that Buffon played at that year begs the question, though: has a goalkeeper ever delivered more integral performances for club and country in the modern age?
9. Ferenc Puskas should have won over Luis Suarez in 1960
Barcelona lifted the 1959/60 Spanish title – and just as you'd expect these days, their bitter rivals, Real, bettered them to snatch the European Cup (back when they'd turn up for awards).
Barça's superstar of the time, Luis Suarez (not that one) was given the 1960 Ballon d’Or after winning La Liga… yet the Catalans had literally won the league on their head-to-head record in the Clasico. Ferenc Puskas, meanwhile, can feel a little aggrieved that he'd been the better player, simply on the losing side across two league games.
Puskas struck a simply bonkers 47 goals in 36 appearances in the 1959/60 season and scored four goals (four, that's insane) in the European Cup final against Eintracht Frankfurt. Not bad for a player who was winding down, yet he finished second to Suarez.
8. Oliver Kahn or Raul should have won over Michael Owen in 2001
Let’s keep this balanced – at least as much as we can. Michael Owen’s 2001 Ballon d’Or is one of the most derided award results in the history of football for a number of reasons: the young England striker wasn’t even playing Champions League football that season, didn’t win a league title and only scored 16 league goals all campaign.
Equally, there wasn’t that much competition for the Ballon d’Or. If you were voting purely from achievements, Owen completed a unique haul with Liverpool and was their best player. That justifies his title somewhat – but where the controversy comes is that some say he never had the ability to be crowned the best player on Earth.
Raul and Oliver Kahn both had a claim to that. The former won La Liga, the latter the Champions League; both were influential for their sides but not standout cases for the award. Depending on how irate you are that Owen got the gong, either would have been a good choice.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah or Antoine Griezmann should have won over Luka Modric in 2018
In 2018, the Ronaldo/Messi duopoly in the BDO was finally ended by a midfielder. It was a win for football not being decided by stats – but in FourFourTwo's opinion… still not right.
Sure, Luka Modric was a very good player but seemed to get the award by proxy of being a key member of Real Madrid's all-conquering side of that year, and leading Croatia to a World Cup final. But was he the best player in the world? Few would say so. Some would even call it a travesty that he picked up the gong while Toni Kroos, Xavi or Andres Iniesta never did.
2018 was the year that Cristiano Ronaldo scored 44 goals in as many games en route to a third consecutive Champions League title, while Mohamed Salah scored an unprecedented (back then, anyway) 32 Premier League goals in just 36 games, taking an unfancied Liverpool to a Champions League final. Both were worthier winners – but it felt like the BDO voters had simply had enough of Messi and CR7 winning.
Perhaps the biggest victim, meanwhile, was Antoine Griezmann. The fulcrum of France’s second World Cup-winning side and the heart of Atletico Madrid’s Europa League winners, arguably the strongest winners of the competition ever. Modric had a great season, of course… but has it gone down in history?
6. Virgil van Dijk should have won over Lionel Messi in 2019
There was never a better opportunity for a centre-back to win the Ballon d’Or. Not since Fabio Cannavaro had a defender stood atop of the world – and Virgil van Dijk was so obviously the best centre-back in the world at that point.
A Champions League title was his clear standout achievement (had he won the inaugural Nations League final that year, it may have helped, too), while Liverpool headed into 2019/20 like a freight train. If this is an award for the most outstanding footballer on the planet, there simply was no other player at his level of dominance. Alas, the voters decided otherwise.
2019 was a fine year for Messi, scooping yet another league title at Barca. But a Champions League exit at the hands of Roma “rising from their ruins” was hardly befitting of a BDO recipient. Surely Messi had enough Golden Balls in his cabinet by now!?
5. Franck Ribery should have won over Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013
In 2013, we were firmly rooted in the age of the statistic. The GOAT axis of Ronaldo and Messi had changed football into a numbers game and 2013 saw Barcelona slip post-Pep Guardiola, with it being Cristiano's turn to get his hands on another award.
Yet this was the season that Ronaldo and Messi were both dumped out of the Champions League by Bundesliga opponents as German football began to thrive. What does Germany have to show for that golden era in which Bayern Munich smashed a whopping 30 records in 2013, Jurgen Klopp's influence at Borussia Dortmund, and the World Cup coming back to Deutschland a year later?
Nichts, that's what. 2013 would have been the perfect time to honour Bayern's superstar of the Treble-winning side, Franck Ribery. Want to make it stat-based? He recorded more assists than either GOAT in 2012/13. And anyway, his influence couldn’t be measured purely on the page.
4. Erling Haaland should have won over Lionel Messi in 2023
What's more impressive: winning a Treble or winning a World Cup? The Ballon d'Or voters went for the latter, and Lionel Messi, in 2023.
Yes, there's no question that Messi was irrepressible in Qatar and that it made a fantastic story to cap off his career with an eighth trophy, which will surely never be beaten. But… again? Erling Haaland scored a record haul in the hardest league on Earth, leading Manchester City to a Treble. If you truly believe the Ballon d'Or should go to the best player on Earth, Haaland was the best player on Earth, surely… and not a mid-30 playmaker in the MLS?
There was some debate on whether Haaland's game was “rounded” enough for the award – but let's face it, this was decided as soon as Leo lifted the World Cup. If only Haaland had pledged international allegiance to the country he was born in…
3. Wesley Sneijder should have won over Lionel Messi in 2010
Still to this day, Wesley Sneijder’s 2010 is the stuff of legends. Were it not for an outstretched leg from Iker Casillas in the World Cup final, perhaps the playmaker would have completed an iconic sweep of four trophies.
Sneijder was the gem, the genius and the poster-boy of Jose Mourinho’s Treble-winning Inter Milan side – assuming of course Jose wasn't the poster-boy himself – but while a World Cup final loss didn’t matter when it came to Luka Modric winning the 2018 award, it counted against the Dutchman. The podium that year belonged to La Masia, with Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi standing proud, crowned the three best players on Earth.
Yes, Leo had an unbelievable 12 months statistically. But Sneijder must have felt a little aggrieved looking at that trio… especially when he’d won a Champions League at the expense of all three of them and Messi hadn’t beaten him in the World Cup final. It still rankles for some fans.
2. Thierry Henry should have won over either Pavel Nedved Andriy Shevchenko in 2003 or 2004
Thierry Henry lost the Champions League and World Cup finals in 2006: had he lifted both, he absolutely would have given his rightful title of the Ballon d’Or winner of that year. But frankly, how he’d never won one sooner is one of the biggest crimes in noughties football.
He was a numbers machine before it guaranteed you the BDO, registering 20 Premier League assists in 2002/03 (still a record) and 30 goals in an Invincible Arsenal term a season later.
Both Andriy Shevchenko and Pavel Nedved were silky and brilliant in Scudetto-winning campaigns at a time where Italian football was king, but neither tasted Champions League glory the season they won the BDO. It’s simply a matter of opinion as to whether you felt they were better individually than Henry…
1. Robert Lewandowski should have been given his flowers over Messi in 2021… and in 2020 over NO ONE
2021 wasn’t exactly a vintage year for Lionel Messi: a single Copa Del Rey to show for his final Barcelona season before a teary move to PSG, where he struggled in his first season. Of course, a Copa America in between – his first international trophy – made him a shoo-in for the award (despite Angel Di Maria arguably being more integral to that win).
Robert Lewandowski has a right to feel a little overlooked, considering he scored 41 Bundesliga goals that season in another stunning Bayern campaign, beating the long-held record of Gerd Muller, which many thought would never be eclipsed. But really, even now, the poaching Pole’s real grievance isn’t with Messi at all or the voters who denied him. It’s with France Football for binning off the award when it was blatantly his and only his.
Sure, he should’ve won in 2021 against Messi. But for the BDO to be completely cancelled in 2020 when he was easily the most dominant and downright inevitable force on the planet, leading Bayern to six trophies? It was outrageous. Luckily FourFourTwo held its own award for the best player in the world. We recognised you, Rob.
