The prestigious Ballon d’Or award was given to Paris St-Germain’s Lionel Messi on Monday evening for his efforts across 2021.
The France Football prize aims to reward the best performing male footballer that year, and inevitably there are countless numbers of incredible players past and present who have missed out on being given the individual prize.
In fact there could be a whole starting XI of the best players who haven’t won the Ballon d’Or – and it’s not an easy task to pick just eleven either.
Who then would make the cut for the best XI that never did or never have won the Ballon D’or? Here’s talkSPORT EDGE’s take…
Gianluigi Buffon takes up the spot between the sticks in the snubbed Ballon d’Or candidates team. The Italian was voted 2nd in the 2006 vote for the prize, missing out thanks to Real Madrid’s Fabio Canavarro.
World Cup hero Sir Bobby Moore earns himself a place in EDGE’s best XI too. The former England captain had never managed to win the prize, with his fellow countryman Sir Bobby Charlton being awarded it in 1966.
Messi’s former Barcelona teammates, Xavi and Andres Iniesta also make an appearance in midfield, alongside Neymar on the right hand flank – all having failed to be given the individual award.
And of course we couldn’t forget this year’s controversially 2nd place ranked Robert Lewandowski.