In brief
Some elite athletes have never won the Ballon d’Or, which is given to the world’s finest player each year.
After stellar seasons at Arsenal and Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk and Thierry Henry have previously come very close to taking home the award.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s genius has caused several players, including Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar, and Robert Lewandowski, to lose out on the Ballon d’Or.
In football, the most coveted individual honour is the Ballon d’Or. Despite having its roots only in European football, it is now widely acknowledged as the annual accolade given to the world’s best player. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were the two men that dominated the award from the late 2000s to the 2010s.
Several elite players have missed out on the golden ball because of the dominance of this pair and a few other questionable winners in past years. While other players have been more quiet about feeling cheated, others, like Wesley Sneijder, have spoken out about it. With players like Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah having outstanding seasons in the 2024–2025 season and being among the favourites for the award, the 2025 Ballon d’Or is expected to be another fiercely contested race. In light of this, Talk2soccer has used important criteria to rank the top 15 players who have never won the Ballon d’Or.
Important Elements
Overall skill of the player
competition’s standard before them
Top Ballon d’Or result
Players must have been active after 1995, when the Ballon d’Or started to admit non-European players as contenders, in order to be eligible. Players who were not eligible to win the honour previously non-European players who competed in Europe will not be taken into account.
15Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Best finish: 4th
Given that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was probably not the greatest player in the world at any one time, it may be comprehensible why he hasn’t been voted King of Europe. But for well over ten years, he was constantly among the upper echelons. He was undoubtedly in the conversation because of his longevity at the top, his huge trophy accumulation, and his flair for the dramatic.
The fact that Zlatan never made it to a Champions League final—a noteworthy accomplishment in the eyes of the electorate—was one of the main things that worked against him. Perhaps the Swedish giant would have been another erratic figure to win the coveted accolade, like Ronaldinho, had he led a side to European triumph.
14 Van Dijk, Vigil
Second place was the best finish.
Defenders are quite unlikely to be considered for the title of world’s finest player. Superstar attackers are typically the ones that receive that honour since they score the goals and get paid well. Virgil van Dijk is the closest defender to win the honour since 2006, when Fabio Cannavaro was the last to do so.
At the core of Liverpool’s defence, the game-changing Dutchman was a formidable presence. Van Dijk narrowly missed Messi winning his sixth championship by seven points, but he helped lead Jurgen Klopp’s team to both domestic and European glory.
13Steven Gerrard
Best finish: 3rd
The fact that Lampard came the closest to winning the Ballon d’Or in 2005—finishing second behind Ronaldinho—could ultimately settle the never-ending Scholes vs. Lampard vs. Gerrard debate. However, Liverpool supporters would rightly contend that their captain ought to have placed higher based only on his valiant actions in Istanbul.
Toppling Ronaldinho would have been a constant struggle for Steven Gerrard. But the persistent midfielder, who played a key role in the best comeback in European Cup history, did end up with the biggest prize in club football. Once more, he might have been the first English player to win the award since Michael Owen if he had been at a team with more domestic victories.
12Robert Lewandowski
Best finish: 2nd
Robert Lewandowski, one of the best goal scorers in football history, is extremely unfortunate not to have received a Ballon d’Or. In 2020, he was the clear favourite. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced the event to be cancelled, and the Poland international was forced to accept only the FIFA Best award.
In 2021, Lewandowski had again another outstanding season, setting club and national goals totals of 69 goals across all competitions. Nevertheless, Messi narrowly won the award despite his outstanding play. Lewandowski, who is currently in his mid-30s, still scores goals for Barcelona, but it doesn’t seem likely that he will win the award any time soon because of the emergence of a new crop of young players.
11 Robben Arjen
Best result: fourth
Despite being one of the best players of his generation, Arjen Robben never placed higher than fourth in the Ballon d’Or rankings. He should have been a strong candidate for the trophy after scoring the game-winning goal for Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League final, but it never happened.
Additionally, the quick Dutchman was instrumental in the Netherlands’ run to the 2010 World Cup final and their third-place result in 2014. Maybe the former Chelsea player would have had a better chance of winning the coveted award if they had won either competition.
10 Franck Ribery
Third place was the best finish.
If Robben ever thought he was unfortunate, think of Franck Ribery, who was left bewildered by his third-place finish despite being instrumental in Bayern Munich’s 2013 European triumph. Although the two men above him were undoubtedly the greatest of all time, the French winger said he was ‘robbed’ and that football politics were the only thing that prevented him from winning Player of the Year.
Having said that, a player’s chances of winning are greatly influenced by the importance placed on winning the big prizes. In light of this, perhaps Ribery’s feelings of unfairness are justified.
9Andrea Pirlo
Best finish: 5th
Since statistics don’t really reflect the kind of player Andrea Pirlo was, none will be used to bolster his argument in this debate. The Italian playmaker’s remarkable talent has been acknowledged by football purists throughout his trophy-filled career, which included stints at AC Milan, Juventus, and 116 Italy matches.
He never made it into the top three of the Ballon d’Or vote, despite his enormous contributions to the game; his best result was fifth place in 2007. The bearded Italian stallion could have won this award multiple times during his career if statistics weren’t such a good indicator of what makes a great player.
8. Gianluigi Buffon
Second place was the best finish.
Lev Yashin, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1963, is the only goalie to have ever received this honour. A shot-stopper has such a low likelihood of winning the prize that a special trophy has been made only for them.
Gianluigi Buffon, who placed second in 2006, is the closest person to having accomplished Yashin’s achievement. In addition to being one of the greatest to have never received this honour, the renowned goalie is also among the best to have never raised the Champions League trophy. Given Buffon’s extraordinary career and accomplishments, this omission is all the more astounding.
7Neymar
Best finish: 3rd
Neymar is a generational talent whose career could fall short of expectations, since many people thought he would have won several Ballon d’Or honours ten years ago. This is a result of the tremendous strain that was put on him, not just of his own failings.
He is 32 years old and has accomplished a lot that most athletes would be proud of. But with the burden of a country on his shoulders, the question of “what if?” is raised by his failure to guide Brazil to a World Cup and to return the golden ball to his native country since 2007. His otherwise indisputable legacy will always include these elements.
6. Dennis Bergkamp
Second place was the best finish.
Dennis Bergkamp had a number of outstanding seasons that indicate he could have claimed to be the best in the industry, even though his best-ever finish fell outside the ranking’s purview. The Dutchman, who was both dependable and amazing, finished in the top three for two consecutive seasons in the late 1990s and kept knocking on the door for the remainder of the decade.
He finished fourth, which is still a very good performance and his best since 1995. It is evident that many poorer players have received more praise than Bergkamp when looking at his entire career and the incredible moments the forward produced.
5Luis Suarez
Best finish: 4th
Luis Suarez ought to have won the Ballon d’Or for his obscene exploits during the 2013–2014 Premier League season. The Uruguayan was frequently on par with Lionel Messi, even after moving to Barcelona and playing second fiddle to the great player.
During his tenure at Camp Nou, Suarez became one of the greatest finishers in football history and won the European Golden Shoe. Nevertheless, he shared Neymar’s fate of never being able to overshadow his almost indestructible partner, constantly playing in Messi’s shadow despite his outstanding individual accomplishments.
4Xavi
Best finish: 3rd
It’s incredible that Xavi, the best player in Barcelona and the driving force behind what many believe to be the best club squad ever, never placed higher than third in the Ballon d’Or rankings. He was a vital midfield player during his remarkable career because he constantly shown extraordinary vision, inventiveness, and technical talent. If he had had the option, Xavi would have probably presented the award to Lionel Messi each year because he was the epitome of the perfect team player.
However, it is imperative to acknowledge Xavi as the supreme orchestrator of the beautiful game, much like Pirlo did previously. His reputation as one of football’s greatest players was cemented by his ability to manage the speed of games and set up scoring opportunities for his teammates.
3. Paolo Maldini
Third place was the best finish.
If not the best defender of all time, Paolo Maldini is undoubtedly one of the best. Despite winning five Champions League titles and seven Serie A crowns throughout his 25-year professional career at AC Milan, he never managed to win Europe’s highest individual accolade. His best finishes came in 1994 and 2003, when he finished third.
The famous captain’s endurance and consistency are demonstrated by the fact that the full-back survived multiple generations of players while maintaining his position at the top.
2Thierry Henry
Best finish: 2nd
One of the most controversial awards in history is the 2003 Ballon d’Or. Pavel Nedved defeated Thierry Henry, who was the most productive player in Europe’s top five leagues during the voting period, since he was unable to equal Henry’s stats.
Henry had already won a World Cup and a European Championship by this time, solidifying his place among the Premier League’s greatest players. The individual himself is still questioned about this, nevertheless, as his stellar resume was insufficient to win the coveted honour.
1 Andrés Iniesta Best result: second
This Spanish combo was like nothing football had ever seen for club and country, and their supremacy was no accident. They were the Batman to Xavi’s Robin. Andres Iniesta scored the game-winning goal in extra time of a World Cup final, in contrast to Xavi, who never experienced any noteworthy individual moments of success that may have made him a serious contender for the Ballon d’Or.
Even while many people can now see that Iniesta was probably the worthy winner in 2010, he ended up finishing second after all the votes were counted, losing to colleague Lionel Messi once more. This list has shown that this is an all too common narrative.
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