It’s time to discover the most controversial Ballon d’Or winners in history.
Every year, France Football awards the Ballon d’Or to the most impressive player of the last 12 months. Many great players have received this prestigious award during their respective careers.
The best-known winners are, of course, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have won the award several times.
Alfredo Di Stefano, Lev Yashin, George Best, Eusebio, Gerd Muller, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho have also won it.
Although there have been cases where people have questioned France Football’s decisions in the past.
So let’s take a look at the top 5 most controversial Ballon d’Or winners
Matthias Sammer (1996)
Sammer was probably as surprised as everyone else when France Football crowned him Ballon d’Or winner in 1996.
The defensive midfielder enjoyed a successful campaign for Germany and Borussia Dortmund. He first won Euro 1996 in England with the national team before helping BVB win the Champions League.
Sammer therefore edged out future Ronaldo Nazario by just one point for the big prize.
But the result left fans furious, with many feeling that Ronaldo was a more deserving winner after his ground-breaking performances at Barcelona.
Michael Owen (2001)
Owen became the first Englishman since Kevin Keegan in 1979 to win the coveted Ballon d’Or in 2001. The award followed his exploits in the 2000/01 season, during which he helped Liverpool to a treble.
The former Real Madrid striker scored 24 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions, and was also instrumental in England’s qualification for the 2002 World Cup.
But beating Real Madrid’s Raul Gonzalez and Bayern Munich’s Oliver Kahn for the prize was a little too much.
Pavel Nedved (2003)
Many expected 2003 to be the year of Thierry Henry, who worked wonders for Arsenal in the 2002/03 campaign. He finished with 32 goals and 28 assists in 55 outings, but the Gunners could only win the FA Cup.
The France Football jury chose Nedved instead of Henry.
The former Czech international helped Juventus win the Serie A title and finish runners-up to AC Milan in the Champions League. However, Nedved’s Ballon d’Or win came as a surprise to many.
Another forgotten legend is AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini, who completes the top three.
Zinedine Zidane, FIFA World Player of the Year, comes in fifth.
Andriy Shevchenko (2004)
Admittedly, the Ukrainian striker was a monster in the AC Milan penalty area.
But Shevchenko’s victory in 2004 was somewhat controversial, as his performances were not very convincing. Yet he scored 24 goals to help Milan win the 2003/04 Serie A title.
Although his inability to help the Italian giants avoid a humiliating 4-0 Champions League defeat to Deportivo La Coruña was a major failing in the eyes of fans. Indeed, Milan lost 4-1 on aggregate and found themselves in the quarter-finals, relinquishing their European crown in the process.
As a result, many thought Deco was a more worthy winner of the title after helping FC Porto complete a quadruple: Primeira Liga, Portuguese Supercup, Champions League and Intercontinental Cup.
However, Shevchenko won the Ballon d’Or comfortably, with Ronaldinho completing the top three.
Lionel Messi (2010)
It’s hard to imagine a time when fans wondered whether Messi deserved a Ballon d’Or.
But that’s exactly what happened in 2010, when the Argentinian won back-to-back Ballon d’Or awards ahead of Barcelona team-mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.
On paper, Messi perhaps deserved the award, having scored 47 goals and provided 13 assists in 53 appearances in 2009/10. He helped Barcelona win La Liga once again. However, he failed to score a single goal in Argentina’s World Cup quarter-final exit to Germany.
While Iniesta capped a splendid campaign in South Africa by scoring the winning goal in Spain’s World Cup final against the Netherlands.
Wesley Sneijder, meanwhile, was another worthy candidate, having helped Inter Milan win Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. He then helped the Dutch finish runners-up in the World Cup.
| Pos | Players | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Matthias Sammer | 1996 |
| 2. | Michael Owen | 2001 |
| 3. | Pavel Nedved | 2003 |
| 4. | Andriy Shevchenko | 2004 |
| 5. | Lionel Messi | 2010 |
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