World Cup winners, Champions League champions and record breakers. Those are just three categories of players that have been overlooked in the annual Ballon d’Or award ceremony, which is designed – whether it’s fit for purpose or not is another matter – to crown the previous year’s best men’s and women’s footballer.
In 2025, both of the winners drew controversy, with Aitana Bonmati clinching a third consecutive Ballon d’Or – despite others, perhaps, having stronger claims. And then, in the men’s category, Ousmane Dembele was crowned the victor. That alone is not a huge surprise, given that the Frenchman’s goals and assists helped PSG to a maiden Champions League crown, alongside yet another Ligue 1 title and a run to the final of the Club World Cup.
But others, perhaps, were more deserving. Lamine Yamal served up 39 goal involvements as Barcelona recaptured the La Liga title, while in the English Premier League, Mo Salah reached new, stratospheric heights. The Egyptian offered up 47 goal involvements for Liverpool – comfortably a record in a 38-game season, as the Reds romped to the EPL title.
It was the latest chapter in a remarkable story for Salah on Merseyside; a story that deserves the Hollywood ending of a Ballon d’Or victory. And yet, the 33-year-old finished a lowly fourth in the rankings at the 2025 ceremony, which continues his head-scratching run of continuing to miss out on even the top three of the voting.
Is that a surprise? From a purely footballing perspective, hugely. But Salah’s politics – he has long been an outspoken supporter of the plight of Gazans – perhaps prevent him from achieving the same level of respect amongst the voting journalists as some of his more neutral peers.
How Is the Ballon d’Or Winner Decided?
Aitana Bonmatí & Ousmane Dembélé, the winners of the 69th Ballon d’Or ceremony, presented by @qatarairways. #ballondor pic.twitter.com/XtOqtcmScs
— Ballon d’Or (@ballondor) September 23, 2025
The French publication France Football dreamt up the Ballon d’Or, which translates as ‘Golden Ball’, back in 1956. It was a nice idea, to honour the perceived best player on the planet from the prior 12 months, with many of the sport’s finest ever picking up the trophy at some point during their careers.
For the first 40 years, only Europeans could win the Ballon d’Or. In 1995, that was expanded so that players of any nationality could be crowned king or queen, as long as they had represented a European club during the prior campaign. The award is something of a closed shop, with no public vote nor the opinions of players taken on board. Instead, journalists from France Football and L’Equipe join forces to draw up a shortlist of 30 men and 30 women for their respective prizes.
Then, a journalist from each of FIFA’s top 100 ranked countries gets to place their vote. Each writer ranks their top ten players, with one point given to tenth place through to 15 points for their first pick. These votes are then counted and tallied up, with the individual picking up the most points declared as the Ballon d’or winner. If there’s a tie, the player with the most number one picks is declared the victor.
It’s a system that is designed to be fair and transparent, although some biases seem to exist. Only one goalkeeper (Lev Yashin) and two defenders (Franz Beckenbauer, Fabio Cannavaro) have won the Ballon d’Or in 70 or so years, while only one African – George Weah – has been bestowed the honour.
And there’s a sense that eye-catching performances in the big competitions, such as the Champions League or World Cup, are often given precedence over sustained elite levels over the course of an entire domestic campaign. Those are perhaps some of the reasons why a handful of all-time greats were not selected as Ballon d’Or winners during the course of their careers…
The Best Players Never to Win the Ballon d’Or
At the age of 33, you wonder if Salah’s best chance of lifting the Ballon d’Or is over. Yes, he comes into the 2025/26 campaign on the back of his best ever season, but he will miss a large chunk of the term while representing Egypt at AFCON – presumably that will be a deal breaker. But Salah isn’t the only modern great to miss out on winning the Ballon d’or.
Kylian Mbappé
In 2022/23, Kylian Mbappe scored 41 goals in 43 games for PSG as they landed the Ligue 1 title, as well as notching eight times at the 2022 World Cup – including a hat-trick in the final. However, Lionel Messi was chosen as the Ballon d’Or winner… despite being outscored by Mbappe at club and international level.
Thierry Henry
Another Frenchman who was punished by the judges for not lifting major silverware was Thierry Henry, whose remarkable 2002/03 – 68 goal involvements for club and country, for crying out loud – was not enough to land the Ballon d’Or. Instead, the honour was bestowed upon Pavel Nedved, who only served up 28 goal involvements – alas, his Juventus side did the Serie A and Champions League double, despite the Czech being suspended for the final of the latter. Henry shrugged off the snub, although Nedved later admitted that he would have voted for the Frenchman.
Virgil van Dijk
Just look at the accolades foisted upon Virgil van Dijk during the 2018/19 season: Premier League Player of the Year, PFA Player’s Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year, UEFA Team of the Year… and so on. But Ballon d’Or? On your bike, mate.
Van Dijk was the inspirational leader behind Liverpool’s Champions League triumph, but it was a player from a side that his Reds team beat in the UCL – Barcelona’s Messi – who was handed the trophy instead. And any number of players from Manchester United’s treble-winning team of 1998/99 really ought to have won the Ballon d’Or ahead of Rivaldo, whose Barcelona side didn’t even make it out of the group stage that season.
David Beckham
The most appropriate pick? Surely David Beckham, who was crowned UEFA’s Player of the Year that very campaign.
