Highlights

• Lewandowski, despite being one of the greatest goal scorers in history, has been unlucky to never win a Ballon d'Or, especially in 2020 when he was the favorite but the ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19.
• Zlatan's longevity, impressive trophy haul, and knack for the spectacular put him in the frame for the Ballon d'Or, but his lack of appearances in Champions League finals hurt his chances.
• Robben, despite his shining performances and scoring the winning goal in the 2013 Champions League final, never finished higher than fourth in the Ballon d'Or rankings, leaving us wondering what could have been with a World Cup win.

From 2008 onwards the coveted Ballon d'Or award has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The formidable duo have quite literally cleaned up across the past 15 years, with one of the two winning the award in every year available besides 2018 and 2022.

On those occasions, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema were the beneficiaries of a slight drop off from the usual recipients, not that they weren't worthy winners, although you might find that certain players on this list arguably deserved the accolade even more when at the peak of their powers.

The jaw-dropping performances and staggering numbers from the Messi/Ronaldo era has left many other worthy winners wondering what might have been had they been born a decade earlier, because it's truly quite incredible that some these stars never received their crown.

Check out who we believe are the 12 greatest players never to win a Ballon d'Or below. Note: This list only considers players from 1995 or after - the date the Ballon d'Or began accepting non-European players as candidates.

12 Robert Lewandowski

One of the greatest goal scorers in football history, Lewandowski is seriously unlucky to have never won a Ballon d'Or. He was the overwhelming favourite to win the prize in 2020, only for the ceremony to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had another incredible year in 2021. The Polish striker smashed record after record as he netted 69 goals in all competitions for club and country, per Planet Football. Unfortunately for the legendary striker, he narrowly missed out on the prize to Messi. Now in his mid 30s, Lewandowski continues to score goals for Barcelona but it seems unlikely that he ever wins the prize.

11 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

It's maybe understandable why Zlatan hasn't been crowned the King of Europe, as he's probably not been the absolute best in the world at any single point. He was certainly amongst the best for well over a decade, though, and his longevity at the top, immaculate trophy haul, and knack for the spectacular certainly puts him in the frame.

The main factor that counts against Zlatan is that he never actually appeared in a Champions League final - and we know how much that counts for in the eyes of France Football. Had he guided a club to European glory, who knows, maybe the 6ft 5inch Swede would be a Ballon d'Or winner.

Read more: The 10 players who would’ve won the Ballon d’Or without Messi and Ronaldo

10 Arjen Robben

Incredibly, Robben never finished higher than fourth in the Ballon d'Or rankings standings despite being one of the shining lights of the modern era. He scored the winning goal for Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League final which ought to have made him a prime candidate for the prize, but for whatever reason it simply wasn't to be.

The pacey Dutchman was also talismanic in the Netherlands reaching the final of the 2010 World Cup and achieving a 3rd place finish in the 2014 World Cup - had they gone on to win either he would have had a great chance.

9 Gianluigi Buffon

It's a tough ask for a goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or and similarly to Zlatan, it's easy to see why Buffon never won the prize, but taking into account his longevity and achievements in the game it's hard to overlook Buffon for this list.

The Italian's best shot at the prize was after Italy won the World Cup in 2006 and Buffon conceded just two goals all tournament, however he was pipped to first place by teammate Fabio Cannavaro and finished second overall.

8 Sergio Ramos

Reports emerged in 2022 that Ramos in fact begged the Spanish FA President to support his claim for the Ballon d'Or in 2020 before the competition was cancelled due to COVID-19.

And while we think that's a little desperate - although don't tell him we said that - it's understandable that he craves the accolade, after everything he's achieved, he undoubtedly deserves it. Apart from being arguably the best centre-back of his era, Ramos has chipped in with 135 career goals to date showing he's a force at both ends of the pitch.

Read more: Ranking the 10 highest-scoring defenders in football history

7 Andrea Pirlo

We won't throw out statistics at you to try and back up Pirlo's case in this debate, that's not the type of player he was. But football purists know just how sensational the Italian playmaker was throughout his trophy-laden career, which saw him star for AC Milan, Juventus and make 116 appearances for Italy.

Miraculously, he never made it into the top three of the Ballon d'Or voting on any occasion, with his best result coming in 2007 when he finished 5th.

6 Neymar

A generational talent that a decade ago many people believed would have cleared up multiple Ballon d'Or by now, Neymar's at risk of flattering to deceive in terms of his footballing career. That's not necessarily down to his own failures, though, more the enormous expectations that were held for him.

At 31 years old, he recently overtook Pele to become Brazil's record goalscorer and has won countless major honours across his career. Besides, if they handed out a prize for football's biggest baller he'd have won it ten-fold by now. Now in Saudi Arabia with Al Hilal, it's becoming increasingly likely that he will never pick up football's most prestigious individual trophy.

Read more: Brazil's greatest ever footballers ranked

5 Luis Suarez

The obscenity of Suarez's performances in the 2013/2014 Premier League season ought to have won him the Ballon d'Or. However, even after his switch to Barcelona in which he played second fiddle to Messi, the Uruguayan was at times almost a match for the great man.

Unfortunately for Suarez, though, his move to play with Messi was always going to blunt his chances of individual accolades, and after Liverpool narrowly missed out on the Premier League title whilst Suarez was truly in his pomp, it would ultimately prove his biggest chance gone.

4 Thierry Henry

Of all the heated debates that involve the Premier League, there is one matter that nearly all fans can agree on - Henry is the greatest. A near unstoppable product in his prime, there was no quality the iconic Frenchman didn't possess.

His searing pace and superior footballing brain regularly ripped open Premier League defences throughout the early 21st century, and to be quite frank, how Michael Owen won a Ballon d'Or with this man operating in the same vicinity we'll never know. The closest he came to winning the prize came in 2003 when he scored 32 goals and recorded 28 assists for Arsenal over the course of the season. Despite those incredible numbers, he finished second behind Pavel Nedved.

Read more: Thierry Henry's brilliant answer when asked about missing out on Ballon d'Or in 2003

3 Paolo Maldini

Maldini is probably the greatest defender who ever lived. Having spent his whole 25-year professional career at AC Milan, he swept up five Champions League titles and seven Serie A triumphs across his career but somehow never won Europe's greatest individual prize, with his best finishes coming in 1994 and 2003 when he finished third. That's something of a mystery to us, and if it tells us one thing it's that we need to start putting some more respect on defender's names.

Not that Maldini would have minded, so long as his beloved Rossoneri were winning that's all that mattered - and boy did they win...

2 Xavi

Barcelona's greatest practitioner and the heartbeat of what many people believe to be the greatest club team of all-time, it's a ludicrous prospect to consider that Xavi never made it higher than third in the Ballon d'Or rankings.

Again, like Maldini, he's the ultimate team player and if you'd have given Xavi the choice he'd probably have given the award to Messi every year too, but let's just take a moment to appreciate the ultimate orchestrator of the beautiful game.

1 Andres Iniesta

The Batman to Xavi's Robin, this Spanish duo were like nothing football's ever seen for both club and country, and it's no coincidence that the two dominated the game on both fronts. Unlike Xavi, who never enjoyed any notable individual moments of glory in his career that might have made him a shoe'in for the award, Iniesta scored the winning goal in extra-time of a World Cup final.

And whilst we can all look back now and realise that Iniesta was probably the worthy winner in 2010, he would ultimately still finish second once all the votes had been counted. The victor that year was Messi, who did manage to record 77 goal contributions (60 goals and 17 assists) in just 64 matches for club and country.