5 Barcelona stars apart from Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d’Or

#3 Hristo Stoichkov - 1994

Hristo Stoichkov of Barcelona

Hristo Stoichkov played for FC Barcelona from 1990 to 1995 appearing 151 times and netting 76 goals in his first stint. He came back to Barcelona after playing for the Italian club Parma for a year and in his second stint at Barcelona, he scored 7 goals in 24 matches till 1998.

He is considered as the greatest Bulgarian footballer of all time and was also considered in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players, by Pele.

Stoichkov won the Ballon d’Or trophy in 1994 beating the likes of Paulo Maldini and Roberto Baggio with the backing of his superb show in the 1994 FIFA world cup in which he was the top scorer. He still remains as the only Bulgarian footballer in the history to win the Ballon d’Or trophy. He later went on to manage the Bulgarian national team.