The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious award in football given to the best players in the world.
Only true football legends have ever received this award.
Unfortunately, some of the all-time greatest footballers to have ever played the game have fallen just a bit short of having their hands on the Golden Ball.
This list is based on just one criteria; players who have made it to the Top 3 for the award at least once in their careers.
1. Oliver Kahn (Vol-kahn-o)
Regarded as arguably one of the greatest Goalkeepers of all-time, Oliver Kahn was the only Goalkeeper in history to finish among the Top 3 in Ballon d'Or voting more than once.
Oliver Kahn finished in 3rd place in 2001 and 2002 consecutively.
It's actually pretty rare to have a Goalkeeper finish among the Top 3 in the Ballon d’Or voting.
Before Oliver Kahn, the last goalkeeper to make it to the Top 3 was Czechoslovakian Ivo Victor in 1976.
It is also important to note that in the history of football, only one Goalkeeper has ever won the Ballon d'Or.
That Goalkeeper is Lev Yashin of Dynamo Moscow back in 1963.
Oliver Khan was voted the Best Goalkeeper in the Bundesliga for 6 years in a row from 1997 to 2002.
The German Goalkeeper was also voted Europe's Best Goalkeeper for a ridiculous 4 consecutive years from 1999 to 2002.
In 2001, Khan would lose out to Michael Owen, finishing third in the Ballon d’Or voting.
That year, Oliver Khan and Bayern Munich won the UEFA Champions League.
A stellar performance from the German Goalkeeper in that Final match earned him the the Man of The Match.
During the Penalty shootout, Oliver Kahn saved 3 consecutive Penalty Kicks in a shootout that would decide the outcome of the game.
Oliver Kahn was also decorated as the Bundesliga Player of the Year.
In just one season, the German wizard drew applause from all over the world.
He also won the Bundesliga Goalkeeper of the Year, the European Goalkeeper of the Year, the World Goalkeeper of the Year and won the Bundesliga Title.
Michael Owen on the other hand, despite his decent 24-goal season, only won the FA Cup and Community Shield in comparison.
Quite an underwhelming performance by Owen considering it wasn't even his best season.
Oliver Kahn, on the other hand, held a record for the longest time with no goals conceded in 773 minutes along with the various titles and unchallenged dominance in goal.
Again in 2002, Kahn finished 3rd place in the Ballon d’Or voting losing to Ronaldo De Lima The Phenomenon in a year wherein Brazil won the World Cup trophy in Korea/Japan.
To be honest, Ronaldo De Lima in 2002 was a very difficult opponent to beat. He was in top form for both club and country.
However, Khan and his German team still made it to the World Cup final only conceding a single goal along the way.
Ronaldo had a great year internationally but Oliver Kahn, one of the all-time greats, was at his peak for both club and country.
That year, he still managed to win the Bundesliga title, the Bundesliga Player of the Year, the Bundesliga Goalkeeper of the Year, the European Goalkeeper of the Year and the World Goalkeeper of the Year.
Although Oliver Khan should have definitely won the 2001 Ballon d'Or, the bitter truth is that Goalkeepers just don't get as much praise for their efforts.
Despite their importance to the sport and their teams, they just aren't as glorified as other positions.
The fact that Gianluigi Buffon and Manuel Neuer are the only Goalkeepers to have been nominated after Oliver Kahn is a sad testimony to this fact.
Quite unfortunate for the most important position in the sport of football.
2. Thierry Henry (Igwe)
Arguably one of the best players to have ever played in the Premier League and undoubtedly, the greatest Arsenal player in history, the Frenchman is in fact Arsenal's all-time record goalscorer.
With 228 goals, he has led The Gunners in scoring for every single season that he's played for Arsenal.
Thierry Henry was amazingly awarded the Premier League Golden Boot from 2001 to 2006 for 6 consecutive seasons, as well as winning 2 Premier League Player of the Season awards, 3 FA Cups and 2 Premier League titles.
In 2003, Igwe, as he was popularly referred to by his Nigerian fans, would receive his first nomination for the Ballon d'Or but only finished in 2nd place.
Shockingly, he lost out to Pavel Nedved of Juventus. Arsenal and Premier League fans everywhere claimed this loss was an absolute robbery.
Pavel Nedved’s achievements that year did not even come close to that of Thierry Henry because that year, Henry scored a career high 39 goals, was voted the Premier League Player of the Season, won the Premier League Golden Boot and led Arsenal to a perfect unbeaten season and a League Title.
Arsenal would end up finishing the season with 26 wins, 12 draws, and zero losses.
Absolutely mind-blowing as it is still a record for the longest unbeaten run in Premier League history.
Any player who was able to achieve all of these in a single season definitely deserves to win the Ballon d'Or.
Looking back at that season now, I can’t help but wonder how Pavel Nedved beat Thierry Henry to the award.
Unfortunately, this was not the last loss for the Frenchman as he finished 3rd place in the 2006 voting, falling behind Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon.
In 2006, Thierry Henry would have the second best scoring season of his career with a combined 33 goals and was again the Premier League Player of the Season.
That same season, he won the Premier League Golden Boot for topping the Premier League scoring charts.
Only 3 players in Premier League history have ever won the Player of the Season award more than once.
Those players are the Manchester United duo of Nemanja Vidic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry.
Although The Gunners did not win the title that season, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon won their respective league titles that year and also won the World Cup trophy at the Germany 2006 mundial.
The iconic statue outside the Arsenal arena is a true testament to the legacy of Thierry Henry earning the respect of the football fans worldwide.
3. Andres Iniesta (El Cerebro)
About 10 years ago, a furious debate ensued amongst football fans globally, and it was pretty controversial at the time.
In a year where Andres Iniesta who won both the La Liga title and the World Cup trophy ended up in second place, falling behind Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi with just 5% of the voting.
While it is understandable that Messi had a very strong case for winning the Ballon d'Or that year, the award could have also easily gone to even Barcelona Midfielder Xavi Hernandez or 4th place Wesley Sneijder.
One thing that bothers me till today is this; if Andres Iniesta, the man who scored the most clutch goal on the biggest stage in world football didn't manage to win the award in 2010, how could Luka Modric, who didn't even win the World Cup, have gotten the Ballon d’Or award over the likes of Ronaldo or Messi back in 2018?
4. David Beckham (Golden Balls)
In 1999, David Beckham achieved the incredible feat of winning the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League title with Manchester United, all in the same season.
The 1999 season has been dubbed the club's most successful season in history. They would also be the first Premier League team to have ever accomplished a treble and David Beckham was quite literally the center of success.
As a Central Midfielder, Beckham provided his teammates with countless and flawless supplies of premium-grade crosses, passes and ball possession while also providing the opposing teams Goalkeepers with trouble every time he had the ball and shooting distance.
He was notorious for his set-piece skills, having the ability to easily bend the ball into the top corner from a distance and making precise and accurate corner kicks which usually resulted in goals.
UEFA rightly named Beckham the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year, but he finished second behind Rivaldo of Barcelona in the Ballon d’Or voting.
Although Beckham was only able to score eight goals in the 1999 season, his contributions to his club success was his playmaking ability.
Beckham did in fact, lead the Premier League in assists for three consecutive seasons, providing and maximizing his team's offensive capability.
Although it isn't right to downplay Rivaldo’s amazing 1999 season, Beckham was under constant attack and received a ton of hate from the media, fans, critics and other football players and managers as well.
This situation could have greatly altered the results of the 1999 Ballon d'Or voting in favor of the Brazilian Attacker.
That same year, Beckham had been sent off in a World Club Championship final against Necaxa. Prior to that, his sending off against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup in France was still a wound in the hearts of many English fans.
After that, he earned himself the reputation as the national hate figure for football fans around England.
Home supporters jeered at him with every touch of the ball, some sections of the fans even threw bottles directly at the team after matches.
It was greatly suggested in the press that his new wife, Victoria Beckham, had a bad influence on him.
Beckham also began to prioritize commitments outside of football causing the media to report on the failing relationship between him and Coach Alex Ferguson.
Later that year, Beckham was given permission to miss training to look after his son Brooklyn who was sick, but Coach Alex Ferguson became furious when Beckham’s wife was photographed at a London Fashion Week event on the same night.
Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that Beckham would have been able to train if his wife Victoria watched after their son Brooklyn that day.
Because of that, the Coach fined Beckham £50,000, the permitted maximum amount in wages. He also dropped him from the squad for a crucial game against arch rivals, Leeds United.
Notwithstanding the issues, Beckham had a great season for his club and helped Manchester United win the Premier League by a record margin.
All of this negative publicity adding up was probably a reason the talismanic Englishman fell just a bit short of winning the Ballon d’Or.
Do you agree with this list? Who else deserved the Ballon d’Or but never won it?
Thank you for reading through. If you enjoyed this article, it takes only a minute to like, comment and share this post on your social media platforms.
Post a Comment