The last 7 players who won the Ballon d’Or without winning the Champions League: Messi, CR7…
Winning the Ballon d’Or is often synonymous with winning the Champions League, although plenty of former winners have managed to win the prestigious prize without European success.
Mohamed Salah’s Ballon d’Or hopes were recently dashed when Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League on penalties against PSG.
However, as history will tell you, it’s still possible to win the Ballon d’Or, even without winning the Champions League. These are the last seven players who managed to do just that.
Rodri (2024)
While Vinicius Junior was the odds-on favourite to win the Ballon d’Or after his heroics for Real Madrid in the 2023-24 Champions League final, Rodri beat him to the award.
The Spaniard enjoyed an excellent campaign in 2023-24, winning the Premier League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
However, in 2024, Rodri only made it to the Champions League quarter-finals, where he lost to Real Madrid.
In truth, it was probably his performances on the international stage that gave him the edge over Vinicius last season.
With the holding midfielder playing a key role in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph, he beat Vinicius by just 41 points to win the Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi (2023, 2021, 2019, 2012, 2010)
Of his eight Ballon d’Or wins, Messi managed to win five of them without winning the Champions League.
However, even in those years where he didn’t win the UCL, his performances across all competitions were freakishly good.
His last two Ballon d’Or wins were heavily influenced by his performances at international tournaments, winning the Copa America in 2021 and the World Cup at the end of 2022.
Then, for each of his Ballon d’Or wins in 2010, 2012 and 2019, Messi did go deep in the Champions League, but lost in the semi-final in each of those years.
Cristiano Ronaldo (2013)
Interestingly, 2013 was the only year that Ronaldo managed to win the Ballon d’Or without winning the Champions League.
In fact, CR7 managed to win the prestigious award without winning any major silverware that year.
Despite falling short in La Liga, the Copa del Rey and Champions League, Ronaldo still managed to beat the likes of Messi and Franck Ribery to the award.
In fairness, Ronaldo was incredible in 2013, as he scored 69 goals in 59 games across the calendar year.
However, it is incredibly rare to win the Ballon d’Or without also winning any major silverware, like Ronaldo managed that year.
Fabio Cannavaro (2006)
Barcelona won the Champions League in 2006 and Ronaldinho was their highest-ranked player in the Ballon d’Or that year, finishing fourth.
However, as is usually the case, the World Cup tends to overshadow the Champions League when it comes around every four years.
Cannavaro managed to benefit from that in 2006 as his heroics with Italy managed to win him the biggest individual prize in football.
Ronaldinho (2005)
In 2005, Liverpool won the Champions League, but Ronaldinho managed to beat Steven Gerrard to the Ballon d’Or that year.
Barcelona only made it to the round of 16 in 2004-05, but the Brazilian still won the Ballon d’Or thanks to his heroics in La Liga.
“This award says I’m the best player in the world, but I’m not even the best player at Barcelona,” Ronaldinho famously told FourFourTwo in 2005.
“One name I’d watch out for would be Lionel Messi. He’s like my little brother here – he might be from Argentina and I’m from Brazil, but I look after him. He’s going to be excellent.”
Andriy Shevchenko (2004)
After Porto had caused a shock upset in the Champions League and Greece won the Euros in 2004, there wasn’t an obvious favourite for the Ballon d’Or.
The likes of Deco, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry all competed for it but ultimately lost out to Shevchenko.
In fairness, the Ukrainian forward did have a fine year in 2004, winning Serie A and the UEFA Super Cup with AC Milan.
Pavel Nedved (2003)
Despite losing the Champions League final to AC Milan, Nedved still managed to get his hands on the Ballon d’Or.
The 2003 award is arguably one of the most contested in Ballon d’Or history, with Arsenal fans today still arguing that Henry deserved it that year instead.
In fairness to Nedved, he was also excellent that year. He played a key role in Juventus making it to the UCL final and also won Serie A that year too.
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