Where are they now? The Ballon d’Or top 5 in the year Lamine Yamal was born
Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal is perhaps the most exciting young talent since Kylian Mbappe and, before that, the duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Born in 2007, football was in a brilliant place during that time with the top five featuring five elite players who we all now consider true legends. Yamal may well go on to win the award in the future and follow in the footsteps of Brazilian Kaka, who was in unstoppable form in this year.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to see where the players are now who featured in the top five of the award.
5. Andrea Pirlo
Part of the same side as Kaka, he was the maestro behind the Brazilian winner. He won the Champions League for the second time.
He later went on to have more success in Italy at rival club Juventus, later featuring in the Team of the Year in Serie A four times from 2011 onwards.
Following retirement, he headed into management, as many do, thrust into the job at Juventus when perhaps he wasn’t quite experienced enough to continue to be successful in the long term despite winning two cups.
He then managed Turkish club Fatih Karagümrük for 34 games, losing more games than he won.
After that, he then jumped back in with Sampdoria but he latest just one season and left in August 2024 and he’s biding his time, waiting for that next role.
4. Didier Drogba
The Chelsea frontman was arguably at his best this season, as he recorded his best goalscoring campaign in all competitions.
He managed 33 goals and 11 assists in 60 games as Chelsea finished second in the Premier League, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League as well as scored the winners in both the FA Cup and League Cup finals.
He spent time in Turkey, China and America after that before retiring and he has been seen around football events and charity matches.
But he is mostly known for his work in philanthropy and charitable work and lives a quiet life in general away from the sport, but he crops up now and again which is always a great sight.
3. Lionel Messi
Despite Barcelona winning just the Super Cup, Messi ascended to the top three here and, similar to Ronaldo, had just begun on the path to greatness.
With 17 goals and three assists in 36 games, he also suffered a metatarsal fracture halfway through the season but his level of performance was strong before and after that, he featured so high.
Since then, he has just gone from strength to strength, winning a treble, the World Cup, and seven Ballon d’Or awards.
After leaving PSG, he took to the MLS to join David Beckham’s team Inter Miami where he has elevated the game alongside former Barcelona teammates Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez.
We’re still convinced he could cut it at any team in the world, especially given his performances for Argentina.
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2. Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo fell just short on this occasion but he only had to wait a year to capture the famous trophy. He then went on to grab five more awards making him the player with the second-most awards behind Messi.
He managed 23 goals and 14 assists in 53 games that season as United won the Premier League where he was awarded the best player award as well as featuring in the World XI.
This was his first true elite-level campaign on the world stage and it set the foundation for everything that was to come.
Nowadays, due to his incredible dedication and longevity, at 40, he is still embarking on a quest to reach 1,000 career goals.
Set to remain at Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League in the meantime, he is currently in the 900 club and is likely to reach that goal if he continues for another season or two.
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1. Kaka
The 2007 winner was in the form of his career at this point, winning the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup with 10 goals and three assists in 13 Champions League games.
It gave us some of his most iconic moments such as that incredible goal at Old Trafford and he managed goal contributions in every game from the Last 16 second leg onwards.
That led him to join future multiple Ballon d’Or winner at Real Madrid in a big-profile move but he failed to reach the same heights, surprisingly, despite some great moments.
He returned to Milan before heading to the MLS with Orlando City before ending his career at Sao Paulo.
Although he didn’t retire until 2017, he had expressed a desire to be a director at Milan but it never materialised.
He has led a quiet life away from football choosing to be involved in business ventures, humanitarian work and charitable causes.
As well as going viral for netting a screamer in a five-a-side game in London.