Summary
The Ballon d’Or honours the best player in the world each year, but some world-class players have never won it.
Thierry Henry and Virgil van Dijk have previously come close to winning the award after successful seasons at Arsenal and Liverpool, respectively.
Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar, and Robert Lewandowski are just a few of the players that have missed out on the Ballon d’Or due to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s incredible performances.
The Ballon d’Or is football’s most coveted individual award. Although it originated only in European football, it is now widely acknowledged as the annual trophy granted to the finest player in the world. From the late 2000s to the 2010s, the honour was controlled by two men: Lionel Messi and Cristian Ronaldo.
Due to the domination of this combo and some other dubious winners in prior years, some top-tier performers have failed to secure the golden ball. Players such as Wesley Sneijder have spoken out about feeling robbed, while others have been more reserved. The 2025 Ballon d’Or was another closely contested fight, with Ousmane Dembele defeating Barcelona’s Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, despite the duo having outstanding seasons in the 2024/2025 season and being among the favourites for the award. With that in mind, GIVEMESPORT has ranked the 15 greatest players who have never won the Ballon d’Or based on specific criteria.
Key factors
Overall skill of the player
The level of competition ahead of them
Best Ballon d’Or finish.
To be eligible, players must have been active after 1995, when the Ballon d’Or first accepted non-European candidates. Players who did not receive the award before non-European players who played in Europe became eligible will not be considered.
20Gareth Bale
Best finish: 6th
Gareth Bale, it may be claimed, was the world’s finest player at times in 2012/13 when playing for Tottenham Hotspur – but their lack of trophies meant he wasn’t chosen in that group of elite players, and he finished ninth.
What distinguishes him as one of the finest players to never win the Ballon d’Or is his performance in 2015/16. Los Blancos finished second in La Liga with 19 goals in just 23 games, but they won the Champions League with a penalty shootout victory against rivals Atletico. Furthermore, Bale became Wales’ go-to player, leading them to the EURO 2016 semi-finals despite the odds. However, his 0 goal tally in the Champions League campaign, along with their lack of a domestic league trophy, meant he missed out, and he subsequently faded.
19Vinicius Jr
Best finish: 2nd
Vinicius Jr., another Brazilian who brought buzz to La Liga, joined Real Madrid from Flamengo seven years ago. In those years, he established himself as a first-team left-winger, making over 325 appearances for the club and scoring more than 100 goals in all competitions.
His greatest season was in 2023/24, when he scored in the Champions League final and had 24 goals, his highest total to date. However, he was defeated for the title by Rodri, prompting Madrid officials to skip both the 2024 and 2025 ceremonies in a show of solidarity with the tricky winger. He’ll have to return to those levels if he wants to win, and he’ll be 25.
18Francesco Totti
Best finish: 5th
Totti is the ideal one-club man. He turned down offers from clubs such as Real Madrid to stay with his beloved Roma, appearing for the club in every season from 1992-93 to 2016-17, making 786 appearances and scoring 307 goals, earning him the adoration of every single Roma fan.
He finished fifth in the 2001 campaign after Roma won the Serie A, scoring 16 goals for the team across all competitions. However, if he had a stronger season for his team in the 2005-06 season, when he scored 17 in 29, which are still impressive stats, his World Cup victory may have placed him beside compatriot winner Fabio Cannavaro.
17Mohamed Salah
Best finish: 4th
Salah’s fourth-place result in the 2025 Ballon d’Or once again demonstrated how important Champions League development is in earning the award.
Salah scored 34 goals in 52 games as the Reds won the Premier League, his second-best season in a Liverpool shirt; nevertheless, his 44-goal campaign in 2017/18 saw his finest numbers go unnoticed. If they had won the Champions League that season, there’s no doubt he would have been in the running and most likely won the award.
16Erling Haaland
Best finish: 2nd
If he had won the Ballon d’Or in 2023, Haaland would have been one of the competition’s youngest winners ever. Manchester City won the coveted treble after an excellent first season in which he scored 36 Premier League goals in 35 games and 12 Champions League goals in 11 games.
Lionel Messi eventually won the prize after winning a World Cup trophy, whereas Haaland finished second despite a record-breaking season with the most awards, excluding international accolades and League Cup. If that’s what it takes to finish in second, he might struggle to come in first again.
15Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Best finish: 4th
It’s acceptable that Zlatan Ibrahimovic hasn’t been elected King of Europe, given that he wasn’t likely the best player in the world at any given time. However, he remained among the elite for more than a decade. His career at the top, significant trophy accumulation, and flair for the extraordinary all put him in the running.
One important reason working against Zlatan was that he never featured in a Champions League final, which voters saw as a noteworthy achievement. If he had led a team to European triumph, the Swedish Goliath, like Ronaldinho, might have won the renowned honour.
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