The esteemed Golden Ball has been elusive to so many great footballers down the years, but who deserved it the most?
Back in 1995, the Ballon d'Or became eligible to non-European players for the first time, which helped it to become the most sought-after award in the sport. A grand total of 17 players have won it since then, including African icon George Weah, Brazilian quartet Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka, and Argentine maestro Lionel Messi, who has dominated the vote over the last 16 years with a record haul of eight wins.
Meanwhile, Portuguese goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo has brought the Golden Ball back to Europe on five occasions, and Mathias Sammer, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Michael Owen, Pavel Nedved, Andriy Shevchenko, Fabio Cannavaro, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Rodri have each claimed the prestigious prize once. All of those players were deserving winners, too, but so were many of the superstars they beat to the top of the podium.
As we edge closer to the 2025 winner being crowned, GOAL has ranked the top 10 greatest footballers to never win the Ballon d'Or, starting with a man who scored a whopping 573 career goals on his way to lifting 34 trophies…
Getty Images10Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Indeed, only six players in history have won more trophies than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which is a testament to his insatiable hunger for victory and longevity at the highest level. The indomitable striker won 11 league titles in four different countries, and he is third in the list of the highest scoring players this century behind Messi and Ronaldo, with 62 of his goals coming at international level with an unfancied Sweden team.
Despite all of that, Ibrahimovic's highest finish in the Ballon d'Or voting was only fourth, which he managed at PSG in 2014. The former Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan and Manchester United striker's failure to win the Champions League, or even reach the final, always counted against him, but he did still find the net 48 times across 124 appearances, and is the only player to ever score for six different clubs in the competition.
Ibrahimovic was also a maverick with a penchant for the spectacular. He made the impossible possible and had a larger-than-life personality that made him pure box office. There were plenty of other contenders for the final spot on the list, including Francesco Totti, Dennis Bergkamp, Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto'o, and Gianluigi Buffon, but Ibrahimovic gets the nod for being a one-of-a-kind genius who set incredible standards of consistency.
AdvertisementGetty9Raul
Raul Gonzalez is regarded as one of the finest players to ever wear the iconic Real Madrid shirt, having scored 228 goals in 550 appearances for the club between 1994 and 2010. The Spanish centre-forward was a deadly finisher with both feet and had unrivalled instincts in and around the box, which were invaluable to Madrid during their runs to Champions League glory in 1997-98, 1999-2000 and 2001-02.
Real also amassed six La Liga titles with Raul leading the line, including when he was at the peak of his powers in the 2000-21 season. He won the Golden Boot with 24 goals and also finished as top scorer in the Champions League, but narrowly missed out on the 2021 Ballon d'Or to Liverpool frontman Michael Owen.
Owen was acknowledged for firing Liverpool to an FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup treble, but only hit 24 goals in all competitions compared to Raul's 32. The Real icon, who also racked up 102 appearances and 44 career goals for Spain, was the best player in Europe that year. It could also be argued that Raul didn't always get his due credit in Madrid's Galactico era, despite his quality in the final third never wavering and his underrated leadership skills as captain.
Getty Images Sport8Paolo Maldini
Only one defender was worthy of a place in these rankings: the elegant, unflappable AC Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini. was an expert reader of the game with remarkable stamina and strength, which meant he rarely came off second best in one-v-one situations, and he was versatile enough to operate as both a centre-back and left-back.
“There are great players and there are world-class players. Then there are those who manage to go beyond that term. Paolo is the perfect example," former Italy international Del Piero once said in what was also a "perfect" assessment of Maldini. There has never been a more complete defender, and probably never will be.
Maldini's career achievements back that up, with five Champions League crowns and seven Serie A titles amassed across his 25-year stint at Milan, while he also earned runners-up medals with Italy at both the World Cup and European Championship. Few players have left a bigger imprint on the game than Maldini, and he should really have claimed multiple Ballons d'Or, but incredibly, he only made it onto the podium once, on the back of a masterclass in Milan's 2003 Champions League final win over Juventus.
Getty7Xavi
Xavi Hernandez was the heartbeat of the greatest club and international sides ever, a masterful deep-lying playmaker who was always one step ahead of everyone else on the pitch. The diminutive midfielder won the Champions League four times and La Liga on eight occasions during his 17-year career at Barcelona, while also leading Spain to back-to-back European Championships and the World Cup.
Between 2009 and 2012, Barca and Spain were both unstoppable, and Xavi came third in the Ballon d'Or voting in each of those years behind overall winner Messi. The Argentine prevailed through the strength of his insane number of goal contributions and individual flair, but Xavi was unfortunate not to finish above his Barca team-mate at least once.
Xavi's work in the middle of the park was never anything less than immaculate, and without him controlling the tempo of games, Barca would not have been nearly so dominant, but it went under the radar. As a team player, Xavi had no equal. As former Spain and Man Utd midfielder Ander Herrera said in a fitting tribute to Xavi after his departure from Barca in 2015: "There won’t be another player like him. The style of Barcelona and the national team was forged through him."