Who are the best players never to win the Ballon d’Or?
Some of football’s biggest names have won league titles, Champions Leagues and World Cups. But one accolade has eluded many of them: the Ballon d’Or. Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson looks at the greatest players to never win football’s most prestigious individual award.
Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane has beaten Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé to emerge as the best player of the 2025-2026 season in Spanish newspaper Marca’s annual Top 100 Players ranking, just few days to the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony. Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi occupied sixth position, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Fabián Ruiz, who came seventh.
For the first time in its history, the brainchild of French journalists Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran at France Football magazine, the event moves from Paris to the London Palladium in England. The 30-man shortlist is drawn up by France Football, L’Equipe, one previous juror and UEFA ambassadors Luis Figo, Fabio Capello for the men and Nadine Kessler for the women.
Matthews’ family ‘very excited’ as London Palladium hosts event 70 years after first award at Blackpool town hall That was held in the slightly less glamorous surroundings of Blackpool town hall, where Stanley Matthews was presented with the prize by Gabriel Hanot, the visionary editor of L’Équipe who came up with the idea of crowning the world’s best player every year.
In 1956, the Blackpool great was recognised for his force of individual will, the very thing that makes the Bayern and England striker the standout candiate Systems football began in 1963 – on the hallowed turf of Wembley – with the impact of a cynical foul by Gino Pivatelli. At that moment in the European Cup final, when the hard-working Milan forward, brought in to combat Benfica’s Mário Coluna, caught the great playmaker, football of the individual came to an end.
Former AFLW player and coach Lauren Arnell has criticised the standard of Collingwood, while emphasising the responsibility of coaches to "put on a show" to grow the game.
With North Korea’s attacking firepower posing a serious threat, Nigeria will have to be disciplined at the back while making their own opportunities count.