Biggest Ballon d’Or robberies ranked: Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland and the players that didn’t get the Golden Ball they deserved

Many greats of the game have picked up the Ballon d’Or since it’s inception back in 1956, from Real Madrid and Manchester United icons Alfredo Di Stefano and Sir Bobby Charlton, to Dutch duo Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten.

The eventual recipient of the award is decided by a jury of journalists from FIFA’s 100 top-ranked member nations, who pick and rank their top five from the final 30-man shortlist assembled by France Football. More often than not, this process has led to the most worthy winner being crowned – but there have also been a few very controversial snubs down the years.

Lionel Messi won his record-extending eighth Ballon d’Or at the 2023 ceremony, after inspiring Argentina to glory at the first ever mid-season World Cup in Qatar – with the voting criteria now only taking into account the achievements of the previous campaign instead of a calendar year.

That will likely be the last Golden Ball bestowed upon the Barcelona legend, who is now plying his trade in MLS with Inter Miami. Messi has dominated the Ballon d’Or voting alongside eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo for the best part of 15 years, but neither man was included in the final shortlist for the 2024 award, and a changing of the guard is now inevitable.

In truth, Messi can count himself lucky he managed to make it to eight. If it came down to ability alone Messi would have deserved the award every year since 2008, but that is not the case, and there has been a couple of occasions when other superstars were unfairly overlooked.

France Football were guilty of some other questionable calls both before and after the Argentine’s emergence, with GOAL on hand to rank the biggest robberies in the history of the Ballon d’Or:

• • 8Virgil van Dijk (2019)

    Jurgen Klopp’s revolution at Anfield really took off after Liverpool’s £75 million ($91m) capture of Virgil van Dijk. The former Southampton man quickly cemented his standing as the best centre-back in the Premier League, and the Reds amassed a staggering 97 points in his debut season – losing just once.

    Incredibly, Liverpool still finished second behind Manchester City, but they went on to land their first piece of silverware in the Klopp era by beating Tottenham in an all-English Champions League final.

    Van Dijk started all 50 of the Reds’ Premier League and European fixtures in 2018-19, and even recorded 10 goal contributions. He was heavily backed to become only the fourth defender to win the Ballon d’Or as a result, but Messi ended up beating the Dutchman by just seven votes.

    The Argentina international did rack up 51 goals and 22 assists for Barcelona, but Liverpool knocked the Spanish outfit out of the Champions League in stunning fashion – and Klopp had every right to feel disappointed for his star defender.

    “The decision is made by journalists, and that’s how they see it,” he said. “I see it slightly different, and so do a lot of people. I cannot remember a more impressive season for a defender, ever.”

7Wesley Sneijder (2010)

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  6Erling Haaland (2023)

  Messi’s inspirational performances at the 2022 World Cup were what primarily earned him his eighth Ballon d’Or, as he recorded 10 goal contributions in seven appearances to help Argentina lift their third global crown. A haul of 20 goals and 21 assists for Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain was also impressive, but Messi wouldn’t have even held a candle to Erling Haaland based on his club exploits alone in 2022-23.

  Haaland hit 52 goals in 53 games to fire Manchester City to a historic treble. The Norwegian proved to be the final piece of puzzle for Pep Guardiola, who had previously found European success elusive at the Etihad Stadium.

  City edged a lot of games purely because of Haaland’s brilliance in the final third. He floored some of the best defenders in the business with his pace and strength, while showing unerring composure in front of goal time and time again – breaking numerous records along the way.

  Was Messi’s World Cup win enough to outweigh Haaland’s insane impact across an entire season? Lothar Matthaus certainly didn’t think so, with the Germany and Bayern Munich legend labelling the final vote “a farce”. Former PSG star Jerome Rothen went a step further, claiming Messi “wasn’t even the best player at his club”.

  Haaland certainly had every right to feel hard done by. Messi didn’t need any extra recognition after “completing football”, and City’s Norwegian terminator will probably never have a better campaign on an individual or team level.

  5Cristiano Ronaldo (2018)

  Messi and Ronaldo’s 10-year stranglehold on the Ballon d’Or was finally ended in 2018, as Luka Modric scooped the award at the grand old age of 33. Modric did play a key role in Real Madrid’s 13th Champions League triumph, and was the driving force behind Croatia’s surprise run to the World Cup final in Russia – but he finished the year with only three goals and 11 assists to his name.

  Ronaldo really should have been awarded his sixth Golden Ball ahead of his Madrid team-mate, having netted 44 goals in as many games, including 15 in the Champions League. The Portuguese forward never spoke out publicly to voice his frustration, but his sister took to social media to slam the decision in an extraordinary rant.

  “Unfortunately this is the world we live in, rotten, with mafia and f*cking money,” Elma Aveiro said on Instagram. “The power of God is a lot greater than all this rottenness. God takes his time but he doesn’t fail.”

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  4Deco (2004)

  Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko added his name to the Ballon d’Or winners’ list in 2004, after scoring 36 goals in all competitions to help AC Milan win Serie A and the Suppercoppa Italiana. Shevchenko was certainly one of the best centre-forwards on the planet that year, but he somehow won more votes than three players who outperformed him – in the form of Deco, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry.

  Ronaldinho enjoyed a superb debut season at Barcelona that he capped off with 28 goal involvements, and landed the FIFA World Player of the Year award, despite the Spanish giants’ failure to win a trophy. Arsenal frontman Henry, meanwhile, picked up the European Golden Boot with 46 goals in 2003-04, and played a vital role in the Gunners’ historic unbeaten Premier League campaign.

  Both of those men had strong claims to Shevchenko’s Golden Ball, but Deco had the most reason to feel aggrieved after winning the treble with Porto under Mourinho. The diminutive magician scored nine goals and assisted an incredible 25 for Porto, and won the Man of the Match award in their Champions League final victory over Monaco. Deco was also named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, and his performances earned him a big-money move to Barcelona.

  Deco’s mastery on the ball and exceptional passing ability made him a pleasure to watch, and his achievements with an unfancied Porto side really should have put him at the top of the pile.

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  3Franck Ribery (2013)

  Bayern became the first German club to ever achieve the treble in 2012-13 under Jupp Heynckes, and inflicted a whole heap of misery on their arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund – who were led by Klopp at the time. Heynckes’ side finished 25 points clear of BVB in the Bundesliga and beat them 2-1 in the DFB-Pokal final, before repeating the trick in a fiercely competitive Champions League showpiece.

  The likes of Thomas Muller, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were at the peak of their powers for Bayern, but Ribery was the real architect of their success, with the Frenchman racking up 34 goal contributions in all competitions. Ribery’s pace and guile on the ball gave Bayern the edge in the tightest matches and he got his hands on every trophy possible, but still finished behind Ronaldo and Messi in the final Ballon d’Or vote.

  Ronaldo won the award after a 55-goal haul for Real Madrid, but they didn’t win a single major trophy, while Messi was powerless to prevent Barcelona suffering a 7-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern in the Champions League semi-finals.

  “It was unfair. It was an incredible season for me, and I should have won it,” Ribery said in an interview with La Gazzetta Dello Sport in 2022. “They extended the time for votes, and something strange happened. I felt that it was a political choice.”

  2Robert Lewandowski (2020 & 2021)

  Bayern Munich stormed to a Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League treble in 2019-20, and Lewandowski proved himself as the world’s best striker with a stunning haul of 55 goals. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic robbed the Poland international of what surely would have been his maiden Ballon d’Or.

  The 2020 ceremony was cancelled, after French authorities took the decision to write off the Ligue 1 season. “The equality that is required for this honorary title will not be met, especially when it comes to assessing performance and preparation: all the award contenders will not be in the same boat,” said France Football editor-in-chief, Pascal Ferre.

  That explanation didn’t really hold up, but the snub didn’t have an adverse impact on Lewandowski, who came back to score another 62 goals for Bayern in all competitions in 2021.

  It felt like a formality that he would finally be awarded the Golden Ball he’d been denied the previous year – and he did end up amassing a whopping total of 580 voting points. Unfortunately, that was still 33 behind Messi, who said to his rival in his winning speech: “Everyone knows and we agree that you were the winner last year. I think France Football should award you your 2020 Ballon d’Or – you deserve it and you should have it at home.”

  In the end, Lewandowski had to be content with the inaugural ‘Gerd Muller Striker of the Year’ prize, which still feels like a slap in the face to this day.

  1Thierry Henry (2003)

  If Henry was unfortunate not win the Ballon d’Or in 2004, it’s fair to say that he was robbed outright the previous year, as he set new standards of excellence in the Premier League. The Frenchman registered 24 goals and 25 assists for Arsenal, and to this day remains the only player in English football history to surpass the 20-mark in both categories for a single season.

  The Gunners narrowly lost out to Manchester United in the 2002-03 title race, but they did win the FA Cup, and Henry was unchallenged in the final reckoning for the PFA Players’ Player of Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards.

  He also scored seven goals in the Champions League, but ultimately came in second behind Pavel Nedved when it was time for the Ballon d’Or to be handed out. Juventus won the Scudetto and reached the European Cup final, only to lose on penalties to arch-rivals AC Milan, and Nedved was unquestionably one of their standout players.

  But the Czech Republic star didn’t come anywhere near Henry in terms of individual brilliance or influence. In actual fact, no one could match up to the Arsenal captain that year, and it’s a crime that he doesn’t have a Ballon d’Or sitting on his mantelpiece as a reward for his incredible exploits in the final third.