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Ballon d’Or trophy, awarded since 1956, has been the cult trophy recognized as the most coveted one to win in international football. Many legends have won it, many have missed the trophy by a whisker.
Ballon d’Or is awarded by voting through a 5-tier structure by journalists the world over in their order of preferences. Every year a list of nominees are published by France Football and it is from this shortlist that the journalists pick their 5 player preferences.
Here in this article, we look at the 7 international footballers who came second best in the run to win the Ballon d’Or and could never win the award since then. Since there were endless footballers who came second best, we have restricted the selection to the players who came second best in the last 2 decades (1998-2018).
So, let us see who were the unlucky footballers who came second best in the Ballon d'Or race.
#7 Davor Šuker - 1998
Davor Suker is undoubtedly the best Croatian footballer in the history of Croatian sport. Perhaps Luka Modric can pose a challenge to that claim now, but Suker remains as the most influential and popular footballer Croatia has ever produced. He is currently the president of Croatian football federation and still remains as Croatia's all time top scorer in International football, with 45 goals to his name.
Davor Suker came close to winning the Ballon d’Or in 1998 when he eventually lost out to the World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane. The author had previously written an article about the striking coincidences between Ballon d’Or 2018 and 1998, when comparing the two from the point of view of Croatian football.
After 1998, Davor Suker could not get into the top 3 of Ballon d’Or in any other year and remained as one of the many footballers who could not get the footballing crown.
#6 David Beckham - 1999
David Beckham was one of the most popular footballers of his time with numerous fans enumerating his hairstyle and style of play. His charisma was outstanding, but that was found not enough to win a Ballon d’Or award.
David Beckham came close enough to win it in the year 1999 while playing at Manchester United. He got 154 points in the Ballon d’Or voting results, but the Brazilian footballer, Rivaldo, playing at FC Barcelona, won the Ballon d’Or 1999 award, with 219 points. Beckham never came close enough on any other occasion and could not stake his claim to the most coveted trophy in international football.
Having played the prime phase of his football career in England, he may have been one of the few players who missed out on winning the Ballon d’Or trophy because of not playing in the Europe.
#5 Raúl - 2001
Raúl González Blanco is considered as one of the best strikers in the history of Spanish football and one of the very best Real Madrid has ever produced. He played at Real Madrid for 16 years and was one of their prime strike force from 1994-2010, netting 228 goals from 550 appearances.
He came close to winning the Ballon d’Or award in the year 2001 when he was in his peak form. In the Ballon d’Or voting results, Raul came second best to the England striker Michael Owen, who got 176 points. Raul only received 148 points ahead of Oliver Kahn, who came third with 118 points. Raul could not better that position in any other year.
His consistent goal celebration of kissing his wedding ring is indicative of the family man that he is apart from being a terrific striker in the history of Spanish football.
#4 Roberto Carlos - 2002
Roberto Carlos was one of the finest defenders Brazil has ever produced. A major chunk of his international career was played at Real Madrid between 1996 and 2007 where he made 370 appearances for them. His famous 'banana shot' (free kick) against France, when the ball had an unbelievable trajectory to beat the France goal keeper, is widely regarded as the best free kick of all time.
He came close to winning the Ballon d’Or award in the year 2002. But the eventual winner was his Brazilian and Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo, who got 169 points in the Ballon d’Or voting results. Roberto Carlos could get only 145 points, coming in as the second best ahead of Oliver Kahn.
Roberto Carlos losing out to Ronaldo is another indicator of how strikers in football enjoy whole lots of popularity over the defenders and custodians.
#3 Thierry Henry - 2003
Thierry Henry played a major chunk of his career at Arsenal between 1999 and 2007. It is between these years that he came up into the top 3 of Ballon d’Or voting results twice -- in 2003 and in 2006.
In 2003, he came second best to the Czech footballer Pavel Nedved who was playing for Juventus. While Nedved received 190 points, Henry received only 128 points.
In 2006, he once again got into the top 3 of Ballon d’Or awards with 121 points. But he came third best after Juventus custodian Gianluigi Buffon (124 points) and Real Madrid star Fabio Cannavaro (173 points).
After Arsenal, Henry went on to play for Barcelona and Newyork Redbulls, retiring in 2012. After retirement he took up a job at Sky Sports as a pundit and later followed it up with a coaching position with Monaco.
#2 Gianluigi Buffon - 2006
Gianluigi Buffon is widely regarded by many experts as one of the best goalkeepers of all time. His career started with Parma where he spent 6 years until he moved to Juventus in 2001. He went on to save the goal line for Juventus 509 times till 2018. This year, he signed with Paris Saint-Germain.
He came close to winning the Ballon d’Or award in 2006 when he got 124 points in the Ballon d’Or voting results. He lost out to his Italian teammate Fabio Cannavaro, who then played for Real Madrid, with 173 points.You may remember that it was Thierry Henry who came third best in 2006.
Known for starting a trend of short sleeved shirts for goalkeepers, he is the only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year Award in the year 2003.
#1 Andrés Iniesta - 2010
Andrés Iniesta started his career with Barcelona where he made 442 appearances for them between 2002 and 2018. This year, he signed with the Japanese Club Vissel Kobe.
He came close to winning the Ballon d’Or award in 2010 when he got 17.36% of the votes in the Ballon d’Or voting results. 2010 was the first year in which FIFA and France Football had collaborated to award a joint FIFA Ballon d'Or award and it was another Barcelona star in Lionel Messi who won the award with 22.65 % of the votes.
Andres Iniesta was the prominent figure of the 2010 FIFA World Cup-winning squad of Spain. He had also scored the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final, that made him a worthwhile candidate to win the Ballon d’Or award in 2010. But it was the charisma of Lionel Messi that won the hearts ahead of Iniesta.
