Top 10 future Ballon d’Or candidates after the Messi-Ronaldo era
Since Ricardo Kaka won the Ballon d’Or back in 2007, it has been an era of unprecedented dominance in world football by two men. So assertive has been the grip on the most prestigious individual award in world football by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo over the past decade, a whole generation of world-class footballers has slipped under the radar.
In the 10 years, before Cristiano Ronaldo won the award for the first time in 2008, there were 10 different winners including Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo de Lima, Michael Owen, Pavel Nedved, Luis Figo and Fabio Cannavaro - the Italian being the only defender to have won it in the last 20 years.
Since 2008 though, the scenario has been starkly contrasting. The likes of Wesley Sneijder, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon, Frank Ribery and Manuel Neuer – all legends of the modern game with trophies to back that up – haven’t been able to secure the individual award that their talent and achievements command.
This list includes 10 players of the current generation, with the talent and ability to secure the coveted prize in the next five years. All the selected players are younger than the aforementioned duo, who’ve dominated world football over the last decade.
#1 Neymar (25 - Barcelona, Brazil)
As the next big hope of the most football frenzy nation in the world, Neymar had a lot to live up to. And, he has done just that.
Already a Ballon d’Or finalist, Neymar is well on track to be the first player to break the Messi-Ronaldo jinx on the elusive trophy. He’s just 25 and has already scored an astounding 52 goals for Brazil. It is almost a certainty that by the time he hangs up his boots, he would have taken over from the great Pele (who has 77 international goals), the title of Brazil’s highest goal scorer.
This in itself is a testament to the legacy he is creating for himself in world football.
As the heir apparent to Leo Messi at Barcelona, his club career is not that shabby either. With the best years of his career still ahead of him, it is almost guaranteed that Neymar will win a Ballon d’Or in the next 5 years. Sky is the limit for this flamboyant Brazilian.