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#6 Gianluigi Buffon - 11
Gianluigi Buffon is one of the best players in history never to have won the Ballon d'Or award.
Widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers to have graced the game, Buffon is still going strong at the age of 43. He has received 11 Ballon d'Or nominations but made the podium only once, finishing second to compatriot Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.
In one of his most recent Ballon d'Or nominations in 2017, Buffon finished fourth, behind winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
During a storied Serie A career spanning 25 years, the 2006 FIFA World Cup winner kept a record 299 clean sheets. Buffon has won 11 league titles, 10 of them with Juventus.
Now back at his boyhood club Parma, Buffon has kept four clean sheets in 11 games. Buffon harbours hopes of representing Italy at the 2022 FIFA World Cup before hanging up his boots.
#5 Franz Beckenbauer - 12 (Two-time Ballon d'Or winner)
Franz Beckenbauer is widely regarded as one of the best defenders to have graced the game.
Der Kaiser pioneered the sweeper role (libero) to great effect in the 1960s and 70s. He is the first player to win two Ballon d'Or awards, achieving the milestone with his second win in 1976, four years after his first.
Beckenbauer, who started out as a midfielder, is a Bayern Munich and (West) Germany legend. He won every major title on offer for club and country. The 76-year-old won the Euros and two FIFA World Cups with Germany. With Bayern Munich, he won four Bundesliga and three European Cups (now known as the Champions League).
He also enjoyed a successful managerial career, leading West Germany to the 1990 FIFA World Cup title. Beckenbauer also won league titles in two different countries, and the UEFA Cup as well.
The German is one of a handful of defenders to have won the Ballon d'Or award, which is mostly won by attackers.
#4 Johan Cryuff - 12 (Three-time Ballon d'Or winner)
Johan Cryuff is one of the legendary names in the history of the sport. A proponent of Rinus Michels's Total Football Philosophy, Cryuff enjoyed roaring success on both sides of the touchline.
Cryuff later, with his stellar exploits, put Ajax on the European map, winning eight Eredivisie and three European Cup titles. He replicated that success with Barcelona, ending the club's near-decade-long wait for a league title.
A legend at both clubs, Cryuff won three Ballon d'Or awards, the first of only five players in history to have done so. In later years, he was critical of the choice of Ballon d'Or winners, deriding it as a 'bunch of journalists and people voting for their friends'.
As manager, Cryuff assembled a 'dream team' at Barcelona in the early 1990s that swept four consecutive league titles and the European Cup (now known as the Champions League).
