Best player not to win the Ballon D'Or in the past 20 years

Limiting this to the past 20 years because SA players were not eligible before then, so it would come down to Garrincha, Maradona or Pele.

Oliver Kahn in 2001

Raul 2001
Henry 2004

Henry, Maldini, Xavi, Iniesta.

Ballack.

Del Piero between 1996-1998 shouldve won it at least once. Also would have an argument in 2003. He's #1 in my opinion.

Laudrup, Scholes, Neymar

Henry, Beckham, Van Nistelrooy

inb4iamapremface

Maldini, Totti, Nesta, Buffon, Pirlo..............I'm a bit bias. None the less they all should be considered.

jibers wrote:Laudrup, Scholes, Neymar

please, you're kidding right?

Please, tell me, in which season was Scholes the best player in the world ?

likeastar wrote:Please, tell me, in which season was Scholes the best player in the world ?

this thread isn't about who deserved it over who, it's simpy who is the best player to have never won it, doesn't mean whoever won ahead of them doesn't deserve it

before this turns into a butthurt fest

If i could pick a top 3 . My choices would be Maldini , Henry and Totti .Those three players have been artists in their careers , sometimes for different reasons , sometimes for the exact same ones.

If i had to pick one , would be Maldini , both for bias and unbiased reasons. His legendary career commands me so . I had this idea one day , in how many classic games he has participated. And there are so many ,for both club and country .

When a man like Ferguson who has put his mark on football has said Maldini has always been his favourite , or Lippi who said he's one of the best he has ever seen ..

I can't but give it to Maldini , again , from both an unbiased and biased point of view.

Henry, noone else was robbed.

Some of the others named had a chance, but were not really robbed because they were never the best player in the world conclusively.

Henry is the only one who at some point was the best.

I'm really surprised no one has mentioned Ibra yet, considering he has been very consistent and amongst the top 5 strikers in the world for much of the past 8 or so years. I don't see the lack of CL success as a detrimental factor - that didn't stop Ronaldo from getting it twice. I suppose you could make the argument that in none of the years he outshone the winner, which is true, but it still feels like a player of his class should've won it at least once, or at least been on the podium.

The problem is, that there wasnt any one season Ibra was the best or performed the best.

Also Ronaldo dominated the WC, Ibra isnt able to do that. He barely is involved.

There was no one season where he deserved it, he is getting better if anything, he is a better player now than he was even at Inter I think.

casillas

sneijder 2010

The Franchise wrote:Henry, noone else was robbed.

Some of the others named had a chance, but were not really robbed because they were never the best player in the world conclusively.

Henry is the only one who at some point was the best.

Raul deserved it more than Owen in 2000. You know it.

There's a lot of great players it's difficult to choose from. Del Piero, totti, Zola, batistuta, Ibra, Henry, bergkamp, Raul, stojkovic, hagi, savicevic, riquelme, Xavi, scholes, pirlo, iniesta, amongst others. Choosing one from that list it's difficult, I guess my favourite as a player (putting aside arsenal bias) would be stojkovic, real talent

Jack Daniels wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Henry, noone else was robbed.

Some of the others named had a chance, but were not really robbed because they were never the best player in the world conclusively.

Henry is the only one who at some point was the best.

Raul deserved it more than Owen in 2000. You know it.

2001 no?

Anyway, yes he did, but you know these stupid awards. Raul and Madrid finished 3rd in the league and despite winning the CL, one would probably argue that he wasnt the most important player in the competition. He was pretty far off the top scorer and only scored 2 goals in the knockout phases (1 in the final though)

01 was one of those incredibly odd years where there was no stand out best player, recent winners Figo and Rivaldo had lost a little something from their winning years. How Owen got it beats me, but Raul or Khan were worthy winners.

I think Owen won it because Liverpool won the " treble" of FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup...goes to show how lame this award is honestly.

Maldini, Totti, Henry, Buffon for me.

The Franchise wrote:

I think Owen won it because Liverpool won the " treble" of FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup...goes to show how lame this award is honestly.

Along with the international performances. Scored 11 goals for England i think including that goal against Argentina.

Intresting.

But still not good enough for "best player in Europe this season".