Alternate Ballon d'Or: Last 14 winners without Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo

As football - and the Ballon d'Or - moves into its post-Lionel Messi-and-Cristiano-Ronaldo era, we look back on the pair's dominance of the award and the unlucky players to miss out.

While 2022 was the first time since 2005 that Messi wasn't shortlisted, the Argentine returned to win a record-extending eighth Ballon d'Or after leading his nation to the World Cup.

Luka Modric broke the 10-year Messi/Ronaldo duopoly in 2019, with Karim Benzema winning in 2022, and with Messi now playing in the United States and Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia, they've likely won their last Ballon d'Or.

Those old enough to remember football before Messi and Ronaldo may recall the Ballon d’Or usually being awarded to someone different each year; in the 10 years before the GOATs took over, the list of Ballon d’Or winners read:

Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Luis Figo, Michael Owen, Ronaldo, Pavel Nedved, Andriy Shevchenko, Ronaldinho, Fabio Cannavaro, Kaka.

Not bad a roll call.

With Modric and Benzema the only winners outside those two since 2007, we’re taking a look at the winners that could’ve been.

2008 - Fernando Torres

Starting in 2008, when Ronaldo and Messi had established themselves as the two best players in the world, the Argentine wasn’t the goalscoring force that Ronaldo had become. Ronaldo’s Manchester United of course knocking Messi’s Barcelona out of the Champions League, going on to lift the trophy, was a factor in him winning his first Ballon d’Or, but third that year was Liverpool’s Fernando Torres.

Signed in the summer of 2007, Torres took the Premier League by storm; only Ronaldo scored more goals than him, and he was named in the PFA Team of the Year, before winning Euro 2008 with Spain, where he’d score the final’s only goal.

2009 - Xavi

Onto 2009 and it was a straight shootout between Messi and Ronaldo. The Portuguese hadn’t quite hit the heights of the previous year, and Messi beating him in the Champions League final sealed his first Golden Ball.

In third place that year was his Barcelona colleague Xavi, instrumental in their La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League success, who was named La Liga Midfielder of the Year.

2010 - Andres Iniesta

Remember Wesley Sneijder in 2010? Sensational for club and country, he won the Treble with Inter and took the Netherlands to the World Cup final, but even that wasn’t enough for a top-three finish.

Xavi was third again in 2010, narrowly pipped to second by compatriot Andres Iniesta. Instrumental in Spain’s World Cup win, he was named Man of the Match twice in the tournament – including in the final where he scored the winning goal.

2011 - Xavi

Well established as the world’s best player by this point, Messi won his third consecutive Ballon d’Or in 2011 by a landslide, with nearly 50% of the vote.

Ronaldo came second, but another La Liga and Champions League double was enough for Xavi to secure third place.

2012 - Andres Iniesta

2012, the year Lionel Messi scored 91 goals. Ronaldo also had his best-scoring year with 61, but a penalty shootout defeat to eventual winners Spain cost him a place in the Euro 2012 final. He was also on the receiving end of a penalty shootout defeat to Bayern in the Champions League semi-finals, but Real Madrid did win La Liga that year, with a record points total as well as the most goals scored in a season. Iniesta was beaten into a distant third that year.

2013 - Franck Ribery

Despite going trophy-less in 2013, Ronaldo won a second Ballon d’Or, narrowly beating Messi, but less than 5% of the vote split Ronaldo and that year’s third place Franck Ribery.

A stellar campaign from the Frenchman saw him win the Champions League with Bayern as well as being named Bundesliga Player of the Year.

2014 - Manuel Neuer

Manuel Neuer came third in the 2014 Ballon d’Or, with just 0.05% of the vote denying him second place ahead of Messi. Neuer had revolutionised the goalkeeping position with eye-catching performances throughout the year, but most notably at the World Cup, where Germany emerged victorious.

2015 - Neymar

Neymar announced himself on the world stage in 2014 before lifting the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015, scoring seven goals from the quarter-finals onwards, coming third in the Ballon d’Or that year, but a long way behind Ronaldo and winner Messi.

2016 - Antoine Griezmann

2016 saw Atletico Madrid finish just three points behind champions Barcelona, as well as taking rivals Real all the way in the Champions League final, losing on penalties, but it was Antoine Griezmann’s performances at Euro 2016 which sealed third place for the Ballon d’Or that year. He scored six goals – five coming in the knockout stage – as France reached the final, with Griezmann also winning Player of the Tournament.

2017 - Neymar

“While there is a 1% chance, we will have 99% faith” were the words of Neymar after Barcelona’s 4-0 defeat to PSG. The Brazilian was the orchestrator of that legendary comeback at Camp Nou, before scoring the winner in the Copa del Rey final in what was his last came for Los Cules. A strong start to his PSG career saw him finish third in the Ballon d’Or once more.

2018 - Luka Modric

2018 finally saw the duopoly toppled as Modric’s imperious performances at the World Cup – where he was named Man of the Match three times – saw him win Player of the Tournament, shortly after lifting a second Champions League with Real Madrid.

2019 - Virgil van Dijk

Normal service was resumed 12 months later, though, and Virgil van Dijk establishing himself as the world’s best defender and helping Liverpool to a first Premier League title wasn’t quite enough to win the Ballon d’Or, narrowly missing out to Messi.

2021 - Robert Lewandowski

The 2020 award was cancelled due to Covid with Robert Lewandowski looking primed to win, though the Polish hitman did come second behind Messi in 2021. 

2022 - Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema's phenomenal performances in Real Madrid’s run to the 2022 Champions League saw him eclipse Ronaldo and Messi, finally stepping outside of Ronaldo's shadow to be Los Blancos' star man.

While his five goals in five group stage games was impressive, it was the knockouts where the Frenchman really shone. Benzema scored stunning hat-tricks against PSG and Chelsea, netting a brace against Manchester City and scoring the decisive goal to send his side to the final.

2023 - Erling Haaland

As shown by Iniesta more than a decade earlier, the only thing that gets in the way of a Treble-winner taking the Ballon d'Or is the World Cup. Messi was outstanding in Qatar, scoring in six of their seven games including a brace in the final as well as La Albiceleste's opening penalty to win their first World Cup since 1986.

It meant that Erling Haaland's devastating debut season with Manchester City in which he scored a record-breaking 36 Premier League goals was only good enough for second place.