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The Ballon d’Or is a quite a prestigious award. But ask any footballer what he’d prefer over that and the World Cup and the obvious answer is going to be the latter. Why? Simply because football is a team sport.
Over the years, we’ve seen some of the best footballers excel at club level and lift the prestigious Ballon d’Or award along with a plethora of titles with their sides, but international football is a whole different ball game and it’s often hard to find consistency.
In this article, we take a look at five players who have lifted the Ballon d’Or but have failed to win the FIFA World Cup.
#5 Lev Yashin
The only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d’Or, Yashin sure was one of a kind. In fact, just google Lev Yashin’s name and the sheer number of individual awards the Russian has won will blow your mind. Nicknamed the ‘Black Spider’ because of how good his reflexes were, Yashin often left forwards flabbergasted with his gravity-defying saves.
The Russian was a one-club man having represented Dynamo Moscow 326 times. He also played a healthy 74 times for the Soviet Union. The custodian picked up four European goalkeeper of the year awards before finally picking up the Ballon d’Or award in the year 1963.
Yashin picked up the award ahead of the likes of Gianni Rivera and Jimmy Greaves who themselves were legends of the game.
In the subsequent years, Yashin inspired a different breed of keepers, like Sepp Maier, Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer who were never afraid to venture out of their box and make saves that would leave the fans in awe.
Despite featuring in four World Cups, though, the Soviet Union always fell short, denying the legendary goalkeeper the chance to get his hands on the elusive World Cup trophy.
#4 Alfredo Di Stefano
It will take even the best of footballers a while to achieve everything Di Stefano managed in his illustrious career. The first player to win the Ballon d’Or twice, Di Stefano went on to score a staggering 487 goals in 669 appearances.
His best spell came at Real Madrid where he plundered 216 goals in 282 games. He helped the side to five successive European Cups and it was in that five-year spell when he lifted the Ballon d’Or twice.
Sadly for the great man, international glory always eluded him. He represented Argentina and Spain at the international level but neither of the two sides featured in the FIFA World Cup which meant despite a successful club career, Di Stefano had an average international career.
#3 Marco van Basten
Ah, the Dutch. Sublime yet cocky, skilful yet conflicted. More than four decades have passed since Johan Cruyff and co. set Germany on fire. Despite being the favourites in the final, they messed it up and will only be remembered as the greatest team not to win the FIFA World Cup.
A couple of decades later, they had another team brimming with talent but inevitably, as the story is with the Dutch side, they have only themselves to blame.
Marco van Basten was one of the stars who could do nothing wrong. He was unstoppable at club and international level and boy was he skilful. Despite his height and build, he could mesmerise the crowd with his close control and his finishing is something that modern-day forwards can dream of.
Part of Arrigo Sacchi’s incredible Milan side of the late ‘80s, van Basten scored 90 goals in 147 appearances. He won the Ballon d’Or in 1988 and 1989 for his performances. The 1988 win was perhaps a bit more special considering he beat competition from the likes of Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard to lift the famous accolade.
His goals tally could have been a lot more had his career not ended prematurely due to persistent ankle injuries.
Van Basten featured in the 1990 World Cup but the Dutch team were beaten by West Germany, again, in the round of 16.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo
The WC 2018 could very well be Ronaldo’s final hurrah at the grandest stage of them all. A serial goalscorer at club level, Ronnie recently lifted his fifth Champions League crown and has won everything there is in club football. Five Ballon d’Or titles isn’t bad at all, is it?
At the age of 33, Ronaldo continues to defy the odds and silence critics. Until 2016, Ronaldo had a pretty quiet international career in terms of winning silverware. Portugal were always a team that had talent but in the 2016 Euros, Ronaldo led them to the final.
Though he had to miss the majority of the final, he saw his side get the better of France when Eder scored the winner in added time.
The closest Ronaldo has come to winning the World Cup was in 2006 when his side made it to the semi-finals. However, the side were beaten by France and had to settle for a fourth-place finish as hosts Germany beat them in the battle for third.
#1 Lionel Messi
Like Ronaldo, Messi has won it all at club level but the World Cup still eludes the diminutive forward. Messi suffered the heartbreak of losing in the final when the Germans lifted the 2014 World Cup. Though he won the Golden Ball award, nothing can make up for the final loss.
The Barcelona star has won five Ballon d’Or awards as well and is likely to make it six if he impresses in the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
It’s very odd that Argentina haven’t lifted their World Cup considering the talent they have at their disposal. The team in 2006, 2010 and 2014 was full of talented individuals but they failed to perform as a team. Can Sampaoli guide them to their first World Cup since 1986? Only time will tell!
