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It's fair to say that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated European football for a decade now. Competing directly against each other in La Liga, they have also fought it out each year for individual honors.
As it currently stands, they both have 5 Ballon d'Or awards apiece, a remarkable record. As the saying goes, Kaka was the last human player to win be crowned the best player of the year; Ronaldo and Messi just can't be from the same planet as other mere mortals.
Some of their wins have been contentious, however. There are many, including retired Bayern Munich legend Phillip Lahm who have claimed that the award is only given to the best striker who scores the most goals, and it's true that those who play further back on the pitch are never represented as much.
There have also been years where there has been much support for an outsider, like when Wesley Sneijder guided his national team, the Netherlands to the World Cup final after winning the Champions League with his club Inter Milan in 2010.
It's interesting therefore to consider how minus Ronaldo & Messi, the players who would have won the Ballon in the last 7 years.
It certainly wouldn't have been as consistently awarded to the same individual, as this slideshow will highlight.
#8 Wesley Sneijder (2010)
As mentioned in the introduction, Wesley Sneijder had by far his best year in 2010. After a disappointing 2 year spell at Real Madrid, it all came together for the playmaker upon arrival at the San Siro. Sneijder clearly thrived on being the main man instead of a supporting player and his full talents were finally realized.
By the end of the 2009/2010 season, he had helped Inter Milan secure a historic treble, including a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. In a defensively-minded and compact team dictated by Jose Mourinho, it was on Sneijder's shoulders to run the midfield, getting into space, running with the ball at the opposition, and combining with strikers Samuel Eto'o and Diego Milito; indeed, a big part of their success that season was down to the above 3's intuitive play.
The Dutchman carried his great form into the summer's World Cup tournament. Man of the match performances in the quarterfinals and semi-finals against Brazil and Uruguay respectively took Holland to a surprise final place against Spain, where they were unlucky to lose out by an Andres Iniesta extra-time goal.
It's interesting that after 2010 Sneijder never reached these heights again, playing well but not to the same high level in Turkish football with Galatasaray. This makes his world-class 2009-2010 season all the more special: an example of an individual taking almost sole responsibility for his teams attacking abilities and succeeding immensely.
#7 Wayne Rooney (2011)
The best English player of his generation had enjoyed great success in his time at Manchester United, winning league titles and the Champions League in 2008 without ever having a standout single season of his own.
That was to change in 2011 when Rooney really delivered on his incredible promise that he showed when he burst onto the English football scene.
After the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in 2009, he knew that he had to step up. Rooney had always had the confidence and swagger to terrorize defenses on his own, and in 2011 he finally added a large number of goals to his play.
Only 1 month into the year, he scored the now-famous bicycle kick to beat Manchester City 2-1; an incredible finish followed by an iconic celebration. He scored the equalizer against Blackburn on the final day of the season to guarantee Manchester United the league title. Rooney carried his form into the new season, and by the end of 2011-2012, he'd have 34 goals in 43 games to his name, his best return for a single season.
Rooney bullied defenders that year and was rarely beaten in aerial duels or one-on-ones. His power, skill, and stamina were terrifying for defenders to tackle.
What was clear about his form was that he was a player enjoying being the main front man: when starting out at the club, he was the youthful partner to Ruud van Nistelrooy, and after this was part of an attacking trio with Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.
2011 was the first Manchester United team that could be called Rooney's team and he repaid Sir Alex Ferguson's trust brilliantly. Rooney had started first-team football around the same time as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi did, and the assumption at that time was that the 3 young talents would go on to have similarly remarkable careers.
Sadly Rooney dipped while the other two got better, but in this 1 season he rose to their level and deserved acclaim for the way he dominated English football.
#6 Andres Iniesta (2012)
A player always in the running for the end of year individual awards, there were many seasons where Iniesta could have claimed to be one of the best players in Europe.
2012, though, was perhaps the year when he shone the brightest.
It wasn't Barcelona's best year collectively, with no league title and defeat in the Champions League semi-finals, but Iniesta thrived regardless. After Pep Guardiola's departure, Iniesta' calmness and skill helped to steer the club forward under new manager Tito Vilanova in the opening half of the 2012-2013 season.
Often the lesser-talked about half of the famed 'Xavi-Iniesta' double act, 2012 finally felt like the year where Iniesta assumed more responsibility, as Xavi peaked.
It's telling that Messi would always thank the Spanish pair when winning his Ballon d'Or award each year; a lot of his goals and success came through Iniesta's stylish movement in the midfield. 2012 saw the continuation of Iniesta's key ability to use his unique techniques to find gaps in the opposition's half, sliding delicate balls through to his front 3.
A player with the touch and passing range of Iniesta deserved to win more individual plaudits and recognition, and 2012 should have been the year for that. Simply put, no player came close to raising football to an art form like he did, his control of the ball and movement without it was beautiful and masterful.
#5 Franck Ribery (2013)
Perhaps the one year when one player came the closest to breaking the Ronaldo-Messi monopoly was 2013 when Bayern Munich's Ribery put himself forward at every point as the best player in Europe.
Indeed, to this day he maintains that Ronaldo 'robbed' him of the Ballon D'Or for 2013. His claims aren't without merit, too: his incisive dribbling and trickery on the left wing were a key factor in Bayern's treble-winning campaign.
He led the Bundesliga assist table that year with 13 and scored 10 goals as well.
Ribery actually won UEFA's Best Player In Europe award during the summer of 2013 and was a strong favorite for many to win the Ballon d'Or too. It wasn't to be, but the voting results show one of the closest races in recent memory: just over 4% separated the Frenchman from winner Ronaldo.
While it's not to be denied that Ronaldo and Messi enjoyed great campaigns in the scoring stakes, as usual, no player in Europe was as integral to their team's success as Ribery was.
Bayern was a team full of talent on the pitch, but the level of influence Ribery had over their play from the left midfield position was crucial. He held great partnerships with those around him, especially the opposite Bayern winger Arjen Robben, but it was Ribery's individual brilliance that really stuck out in 2013. There was few better at beating their man, either through acceleration or skill.
#4 Manuel Neuer (2014)
Playing in a position not often given awards, Neuer's 2014 performances were definitely worthy of the Ballon d'Or award; when goalkeepers missed out, it backed up the argument from people like Lahm and their frustration with the Ballon d'Or.
Simply put, Neuer was almost unbeatable during this year.
During the first half of the 2014-2015 season, the big German only conceded 4 goals in 17 league games, an astounding record. Playing under Pep Guardiola, Neuer also perfected his famous 'sweeper keeper' style of goalkeeping: he truly was like an 11th outfield player for his team when in possession of the ball.
He never appeared nervous performing this role and his skill playing passes belied his huge frame. His shot stopping ability was also unmatched in Europe, his authoritative presence in his goal striking fear into opposition's attackers.
His world-class performances also transferred to the national level, where he was instrumental in Germany winning the 2014 World Cup. Winning the Golden Glove for the tournament's best keeper, he ended up with 4 clean sheets in total. He also made crucial saves in the tense final to stop Gonzalo Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio.
Individually, Neuer won the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper award in 4 consecutive years from 2013 to 2016, highlighting his utter dominance in his position. It really isn't hard to believe that Neuer was due the Ballon d'Or for 2014 but lost out due to the bias for forwards.
#3 Eden Hazard (2015)
The player, along with Neymar, always said to be the heir to Ronaldo and Messi's dominance, Hazard is a joy watch on form: turning and twisting, there's no attacker more graceful in possession of the ball when running at defenders.
Hazard has been at Chelsea for 6 seasons now, but his 2015 year, especially the first half of it, saw him performing to a world-class level. He was the star attraction as Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to their first league title in 5 years. The Belgian would end the season with 19 goals in all competitions, his best return for the club to date.
His performances in 2015 saw him begin to be linked with the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as he became the EPL's undisputed best player. The sense loomed that most days Hazard was unplayable. His ability one-on-one with a defender was frightening as he consistently ghosted past his marker, finding spaces on the left hand side of the pitch where there didn't appear to be any.
Sometimes, regardless of trophies won or goals scored, it's great just to witness a player in complete control of his footballing abilities enjoying what he does and as he helped Chelsea to first position this is what Hazard represented, as watching him tease and torment defenders was to see some of the best dribbling technique of the 21st century.
His form dipped in the opening to the 2015-2016 season as Chelsea's form as a team faltered, but his consistent performances before this made him most people's best payer behind Ronaldo and Messi.
He was entertaining to watch but most importantly he backed this up with incisiveness and effectiveness. In Mourinho's solid but uninspiring Chelsea team, Hazard was the creative spark that was the main reason for the league title returning to Stamford Bridge after a long absence. Real Madrid still had Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema if Ronaldo was misfiring and Messi had the support of Luis Suarez and Neymar but without Hazard Chelsea were a different side, lacking in star quality and world-class skill.
#2 Luis Suarez (2016)
Perhaps the player to enjoy the best individual season aside from Ronaldo and Messi, Suarez somehow reached another level after departing Liverpool from Barcelona; his performances in 2016 were frightening to behold.
The middle part of Barcelona's amazing front trio flanked by Neymar and Messi, in this season they are perhaps the best forward three in the history of the game, such was their understanding with each other and their goals and assists totals.
Suarez simply couldn't stop scoring during 2016. He scored against Deportivo La Coruna and against Celta Vigo, becoming the first player in La Liga history to score 4 times in consecutive matches; he finished with 40 goals in 35 matches to win the Pichichi trophy, the first player to do so outside of Ronaldo and Messi since Diego Forlan in 2009. 14 of his goals came in his last 5 matches, while he also led the league in assists (16, tied with Messi). Suarez's statistics were just astounding.
He wasn't a mere goal poacher though. Suarez acted as the first line of defense, harassing and harrying defenders into making mistakes. His energy and enthusiasm as he buzzed around the front line was unmatched anywhere in Europe. The Uruguayan was also not content to wait for chances to fall at his feet and was happy to drop deeper to receive the ball and link up with his midfielders.
There's reason to believe that his controversial past counted against him when it came to voting for the Ballon D'Or: incidents like biting Giorgio Chiellini didn't make one a popular figure.
Focus on just his footballing play, however, and Suarez had no equal in 2016, a player of fearsome power and cunning completing one of the greatest years by a striker in the history of the game.
#1 Neymar (2017)
The other part of Barcelona's legendary front 3, Neymar is most people's favorite to contest for the Ballon D'Or once Ronaldo and Messi are retired.
The Brazilian had always been the junior partner of the attacking trio but 2017 was when he truly rose to the level of Messi and Suarez. The ease with which Neymar has been beating his opponents on the left wing is incredible, and though his goals tally for the 2016-2017 was down significantly from the previous season, Neymar's overall play improved greatly as he finally became a consistent world-class attacker.
His passing range has significantly increased and it's not uncommon to witness a simply unthinkable through ball to a teammate every game that could perhaps only be bested by Messi.
Everyone is aware of the circumstances which brought Neymar to PSG over the summer and his performances since arriving in Paris have been unbelievable. Only halfway through the season, he has 24 goals and 16 assists to his name. He has completely dominated French football, forming a brilliant understanding with fellow front men Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.
The reason for his transfer seems to have been to allow him to be the star man at his new club, something he could never attain at Barcelona with Messi: it must only be a matter of time until he wins his first Ballon D'Or but considering his dazzling all-round play in 2017, it feels like it was a missed opportunity for the Brazilian.
