Peter Beardsley
To win the Ballon d’Or, a footballer has to be in the upper echelons of talent: the crème de la crème, most would say. But Peter Beardsley, formerly of Newcastle United and Liverpool, has named one Englishman who picked up the prestigious trophy despite not having the ‘God-given talent’.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s duopoly saw them dominate Ballon d’Or ceremonies for a 15-year period between 2008 and 2023 – but there were a plethora of names that conquered before two of the best footballers in world football arrived on the scene, including a few Englishmen.
EPL_British Ballon d'Or Winner Related
Every British Ballon d’Or Winner [Ranked]
Three Manchester United legends feature among the six British players to have lifted the Ballon d'Or.
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Ballon d’Or winners from England are a rare breed: Sir Stanley Matthews won it in 1956 and remains the oldest player to do so, Sir Bobby Charlton followed suit in 1966, and striker-turned-pundit Michael Owen was crowned football’s best asset in 2001.
Beardsley Names Ballon d’Or Winner Without ‘God-Given Talent’
‘He is quite rightly worshipped in Newcastle’
However, the only-ever Englishman to win two Ballon d’Or is Kevin Keegan and, even better, the goal-getter won it back-to-back in 1978 and 1979. And that’s who Beardsley believes was not innately talented like Paul Gascoigne or John Barnes. Speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo, the ex-England international, who racked up 59 appearances for the Three Lions, was tasked with building a ‘Perfect XI’ from players he’d shared a pitch with.
In doing so, Beardsley, who is widely regarded as one of the most ‘unorthodox’ players in British football history, chose the aforementioned Keegan – alongside striker-turned-pundit Gary Lineker – to be one of his roaring centre-forwards.
Keegan’s hard work and determination allowed him to flourish into the world’s best footballer on two occasions, Beardsley suggested, as he insisted that he wasn’t born with instinctive talent like some of his fellow countrymen were.
“What a superstar,” Hexham-born Beardsley continued before explaining why he is considered royalty among St James’ Park circles. “He is quite rightly worshipped in Newcastle because he turned the club around, firstly as a player and then a manager.”
Keegan, Lee and Beardsley
In the 1983/84 campaign, Keegan and Beardsley lined up alongside one another on 37 different occasions during their respective stints on Tyneside for Newcastle – and, highlighting their natural telepathy, they combined for a goal 10 times.
Keegan picked up his duo of Ballon d’Or while on the books of German outfit Hamburg, more formally known as Hamburger SV, as the English world-beater was the catalyst-in-chief behind die Rothosen’s Bundesliga triumph in the 1978/79 campaign.
Unfortunate to play in an era when England were performing below the expected standard, Keegan is perhaps not talked about in the same breath as some of the nation’s greatest-ever assets, but he was certainly just as talented – if not, that little bit more.