Younger readers might not even be aware that Michael Owen - you know, that BT Sport pundit everyone likes to mock - actually won the Ballon d’Or.The retired striker secured world football’s most prestigious individual accolade back in 2001, securing 176 points from a panel of sports journalists.Owen, 22 years old at the time and playing for Liverpool, became the first Englishman since Kevin Keegan, winner in 1978 and 1979, to win the award.Talking about how he found out he’d won the Ballon d,Or, Owen was quoted by AS as telling France Football back in October: “I remember that the circumstances were a little out of the ordinary because Gérard Houllier was having health problems, he'd undergone heart surgery in October and he was still recovering. In his absence, his assistant Phil Thompson, took over and we were in Italy playing Roma.“An hour before kick-off, Phil told me to go to the changing rooms because the boss wanted to talk to me. It seemed a bit strange to me because I was just about to go out for the warm-up.”

How Houllier broke the news to Owen

He then described what Houllier told him over the phone: “‘Michael I must tell you something which maybe might make you perform well tonight, but I can only tell you on one condition - you must promise me that you won't tell anyone. You have been voted the best player in Europe, you are the new Ballon d'Or winner. Congratulations!’”.

"It was strange but at the same time, fantastic,” Owen added.

Owen's 2001

Owen had enjoyed an excellent 2000-01 campaign, scoring 24 goals and winning the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in the process.

And he boosted his chances of winning the award with a sublime hat-trick in England’s memorable 5-1 away win over Germany.

Here's the list of players he beat

But the list of players he beat to win the award is remarkable…

=9. Zinedine Zidane

Points: 14

=9. Thierry Henry

Points: 14

8. Andriy Shevchenko

Points: 18

7. Rivaldo

Points: 20

6. Luis Figo

Points: 56

5. Francesco Totti

Points: 57

4. David Beckham

Points: 102

3. Oliver Kahn

Points: 114

2. Raul

Points: 140

1. Michael Owen

Points: 176