PSG superstars are the frontrunners for this year’s Ballon d’Or after they won a stunning treble in 2024-25. But enjoying unprecedented in the team game doesn’t necessarily result in individual awards.
There’s a strange quirk that five of the last seven European treble-winning sides have not had a Ballon d’Or winner, nor have three of the last four World Cup winners.
Ousmane Dembele is leading the race, but with a number of brilliant PSG stars splitting the vote might we see a surprise winner from another club? Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal are among the star names who can still harbour hope.
Here are nine legendary teams that failed to see any of their players rewarded with the Ballon d’Or.
Barcelona – 1991-92
Lionel Messi, of course, was frequently rewarded with the Ballon d’Or during Barcelona’s recent imperial era. Three of his eight wins were in large part thanks to the major role he played in winning the Champions League – 2009, 2011 and 2015.
But no Barca player claimed the award in 1992 when the club won it for the first time in their history, the last year it was still officially known as the European Cup.
Ronald Koeman scored the famous match-winner in extra time in the final victory over Sampdoria but he only ended up eighth in the rankings. Hristo Stoichkov finished runner-up but did win it a couple of years later, more in part to his heroics at the World Cup.
Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team missed out to prime Marco van Basten. That was despite the legendary goalscorer missing the crucial penalty in the Netherlands’ Euro ’92 shootout semi-final defeat to Denmark.
Proof that the Ballon d’Or used to be a more simplistic reflection of whoever was deemed the best player in the world as opposed to the heavily narrative-influenced award it is today.
Manchester United – 1998-99
There’s certainly a case to be made that David Beckham deserved the Ballon d’Or in 1999. We’ve argued it ourselves.
The England international finished runner-up to Rivaldo, who was sensational in Barcelona’s 1998-99 La Liga title victory under Louis van Gaal.
It seems wild through a 2025 lens that no Manchester United player won the big award in ’99, but then you consider that not one Ballon d’Or winner between 1992 and 2006 was a Champions League holder. Things were judged differently back then.
Inter – 2009-10
Diego Milito was Inter’s top scorer in their historic treble-winning campaign with 30 goals in all competitions. He scored both goals in the Champions League final and further clutch goals in the Coppa Italia final and final-day Serie A victory that sealed the Scudetto.
Nowadays, multiple big-game moments like that would surely put any player in the conversation for football’s most prestigious individual accolade. And yet, somehow, the Argentinian striker didn’t even make the shortlist in 2010.
“I officially stopped believing in these individual awards since 2010,” team-mate Esteban Cambiasso responded.
“On the day I realised that Milito was out of the nomination of 30 players, not five or ten, I said I no longer understand anything about these awards.”
Wesley Sneijder (4th) was the only Inter player in the Ballon d’Or top 10 that year. There’s a relatively good reason for that, but still…
Spain – 2010
Jose Mourinho’s Inter weren’t the only iconic team from 2010.
Spain won the World Cup in South Africa and their era-defining midfield were recognised with places on the podium, with Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez – second and third respectively – competing an all-Barcelona top three.
Messi ‘only’ won La Liga that year and suffered a disappointing World Cup campaign. It probably wouldn’t make his top five Ballon d’Or years. But this was a time in which his ascent to greatness still felt new and gob-smacking.
Sixty goals and 17 assists in 64 matches for club and country were numerical evidence he was unquestionably the best player in world football, even while Spain and Inter made history. Well worthy of retaining the Ballon d’Or.
Bayern Munich – 2012-13
No Ballon d’Or recognition for Bayern’s 2012-13 treble-winners remains a bone of contention in Bavaria, and evidently still rankles with some of the big characters in that dressing room.
“So you NEED to win the Champions League to win the Ballon d’Or?” read a recent viral tweet from Frank Ribery, complete with three sarcastic laughing emojis, in reference to missing out in 2013.
Ribery was indeed superb that year, and he dominated the Bayern vote, but Arjen Robben, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manuel Neuer were also worthy of recognition on the shortlist.
His other problem was that Messi and Ronaldo were at the absolute peak of their powers back then.
Ronaldo won it after winning a 100-point La Liga title with Real Madrid, notching a tally of 69 goals and 15 assists in 59 appearances for club and country that calendar year. Runner-up Messi registered 45 goals and 16 assists in just 47 outings. Outrageous numbers, really.
Germany – 2014
A bit like Bayern Munich the year before, Germany’s World Cup winners were an outstanding team where it wouldn’t have felt fair to single out any one individual.
Neuer (third) was the highest-ranking German behind ever-present top two Ronaldo and Messi.
Muller (fifth), Lahm (sixth), Toni Kroos (ninth), Mario Gotze (15th) and Schweinsteiger (18th) also made the shortlist, while Mesut Ozil – so often majestic in Brazil – didn’t even make the cut. Tough competition.
Ronaldo might’ve missed out on his third Ballon d’Or that year if Die Mannschaft boasted a single superstar figure, but as it was his achievements – 51 goals in all competitions and La Decima – for Real Madrid trumped any one player on the international stage.
France – 2018
Zinedine Zidane deservedly took home the Ballon d’Or in 1998 after demonstrating his mercurial talents when France won their first World Cup on home soil. Who could forget him scoring twice in the final against Brazil?
Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus side of 2018 had no such outstanding figure. Antoine Griezmann (third) was the highest-ranked Frenchman in the Ballon d’Or rankings that year, having also been exceptional all year for Atletico Madrid, but Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe, N’Golo Kante and Raphael Varane were also worthy of acclaim.
It’s difficult to quibble with Luka Modric breaking the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly, having won a third successive Champions League with Real Madrid that year before being the talisman in Croatia’s shock run to the final in Russia.
Bayern Munich – 2019-20
This one’s a bit of a unique case.
Bayern’s 2019-20 side was not one of those great collective teams with no obvious standout player. That year, Robert Lewandowski scored 55 goals in all competitions to fire Hansi Flick’s side to the treble.
There was no international tournament to overshadow his achievements. No Messi or Ronaldo ridiculousness. Ballon d’Or shoo-ins don’t get much bigger.
…but organisers France Football made the strange decision to cancel the award following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Robert, you deserve your Ballon d’Or. Last year, everyone was in agreement to say that you were the big winner of this award,” Messi said in his speech after beating the Poland international to it the following year.
Lewy was robbed.
Another year, another Ballon d'Or award for Lionel Messi.
QUIZ: Can you name every player to make the Ballon d’Or podium in Messi’s eight wins?
Manchester City – 2022-23
Like Lewandowski three years prior, Erling Haaland in 2022-23 probably had one of the all-time greatest individual campaigns not to be recognised with a Ballon d’Or.
The Norwegian striker scored 52 goals in all competitions in his debut, treble-winning season at Manchester City – including a record-breaking 36 in the Premier League.
Any other year and he’d have been nailed-on.
Unfortunately for him, that was the year Messi dazzled at the Qatar World Cup to claim his record-extending eighth Ballon d’Or.
As above, none of the previous three World Cup-winning sides had a Ballon d’Or winner, but none of those had a player who single-handedly owned the tournament and won the Golden Ball like Messi.
The Argentinian followed in the footsteps of the likes of Fabio Cannavaro (2006), Ronaldo (2002), Paolo Rossi (1982) and Bobby Charlton (1966) in being awarded the Ballon d’Or after shining on the biggest stage of all. One for the history books.
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