Sometimes the world is quite unfair. The football world is the same. There are many outstanding players, football legends, who have never the Ballon d’Or award, although they deserve to win it at least once. Here is a list 10 players who should have won the Ballon d’Or.
Raul
In 1994, the 17-year-old Raul played for Real Madrid for the first time and in 2010 he left Madrid to join Bundesliga. During his 16-year career in Real Madrid, he helped the team win 6 La Liga titles, 3 UEFA Champions League titles and 2 Toyota Cup championships. He played 433 games and scored 323 goals, which is the player with the most appearances and the second most scorer in Real Madrid.
Buffon
In 1995, Buffon, who was only 17 years old back then, achieved his Serie A debut. In 2001, Buffon transferred to Juventus with a transfer fee of 54.1 million euros, breaking the highest record of the goalkeeper’s transfer fee. Buffon has won 10 Seria A titles (including the two Serie A titles that are revoked), 3 Italian Cup championships, 6 Italian Super Cup championships and 1 The UEFA Cup champion and helped Juventus reach the European Champions League final for four times.
Buffon’s performance in national team is also excellent. In 2006, he helped Italy to win te World Cup, and in 2012, he helped Italy to get into the European Football Championship’s final.
Iniesta
Iniesta won four Champions League titles and nine La Liga titles with Barcelona. In 2009, Barcelona historicly won six champions and it is the first in football history that one team won all six major titles in one year.
In 2008, Iniesta won the European Football Championship with the Spanish team. In 2010 World Cup final, Iniesta scored a goal in the final in the overtime, which helped Spain win the World Cup for the first in their country’s history and he also became a national hero. In 2012, Iniesta helped Spain successfully defend the European Cup title and achieved three consecutive championships in the national team competition, which is absolutely amazing and hard to be surpassed.
Casillas
During his career in Real Madrid, Casillas represented the team in 725 appearances in all kinds of events, led the team win 18 trophies including 3 Champions League and 5 La Liga titles. In 2008-2012, he was selected as the world’s best goalkeeper for five consecutive years and both the FIFA and the UEFA’s best lineup.
In 2008, he became the captain of the Spanish national team and won the European Football Championship without losing a goal in the knock out stage. In 2010 World cup, he defended Spainish’s goal for 433 minutes without conceding one, and help the team win the World Cup and he personally won the best goalkeeper award. In 2012 Ukraine European Football Championship, Casillas achieved not losing a goal in knockout stage of the three consecutive major tournaments (10 games), and created a record for not losing a goal for 509 minutes in European Football Championship final phase. He led the team to win three consecutive major titles.
Xavi
In 2009, 2010, and 2011, Xavi was selected in the list of final three candidates for the Ballon d’Or. Although Xavi talent and outstanding performance was appreciated by many people, he never won over his teammate Messi to get the Ballon d’Or. In 2010, as the midfield commander, he helped Spanish team to win the World Cup and many people thought he would win the Ballon d’Or, but in that year’s competition, he still lost to Messi who didn’t lead Argetina get good result in World Cup.
Roberto Carlos
Carlos is always the “No. 3” of Real Madrid. In 1996, he joined Real Madrid from Inter Milan. Since then, in Bernabeu, an era belonging to Carlos has started. He is undoubtedly the best left-back in the history of the club and the favorite of fans. In the 11 seasons in which Carlos played for Real Madrid, he won numerous honors and became a superstar. “The days of playing for Real Madrid are the happiest time of my life. I won three Champions League trophies. It is so lucky.” said Carlos.
In his national team career, with Brazil he won the World Cup in 2002 and was the runner-up in 1998. He has never won the Ballon d’Or, either.
Paolo Maldini
Maldini’s career has been devoted to AC Milan Football Club. He was the captain of both the Italian national team and AC Milan. He won five Champions League titles and seven Serie A titles and other 26 trophies in his career. In 2009, Maldini announced his official retirement. In his career, he has only played for one club, AC Milan.
From 1998 to 2004, Maldini represented the Italian national team in four World Cups and three European Football Championships, but he never won a major title with Italy national team. He played 126 games for Italy and is the third most player in the history of the Italian national team.
Henry
As Arsenal and French lengendary stars, Henry’s career has achieved many achievements that are hard to reach for future generations. He helped France win the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Cup. It is an important player in the history of the national team. He scored 51 goals in his 123 French national team’s appearances.
In the history of the Arsenal club, Henry is also a legend, he helped the Gunners win two Premier League titles and three FA Cup champions. After transfer to Barcelona, he also achieved a lot, in 2009, he won six major titles including league champion and Champions League.
Pirlo
Pirlo is one of the most outstanding organizational cores appreciated in Europe and the world. he is called the “master of the midfield.” At the beginning of his career, his position was the attacking midfielder, and he was transformed into a defensive midfielder by Ancelotti and became a world-class player.
He is one of the core members of the 2006 World Cup champion Italy. He also won the two UEFA Champions League (2003, 2007) and two Serie A titles (2004, 2011) as the core of AC Milan during his peak career . After that, Pirlo joined Juventus and won the Serie A championship for 4 times (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015).
Wesley Sneijder
Sneijder is one of the best Dutch superstars in the world of football. He is an attacking mifielder on the pitch. He was selected to the national team in 2003, playing for the national team in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 European Football Championships. He also attended the 2006, 2010, and 2014 World Cups. Sneijder is also one of the few football players who have won four different top league titles in Europe (Eredivisie, La Liga, Serie A, and Turkish league).
In the 2010 World Cup, he was the main force for the national team to be the World Cup runner-up. Individually, he also won the World Cup Silver Ball Award. In the same year, as the core of the midfield, he helped Inter Milan won the treble including the league, Champions League and Italian Cup titles. In that year, many people thought the Ballon d’Or would be won by him because his phenomenal performance, but, still, he lost to the unique Messi.
