Four 21st century players who won the World Cup, Champions League and Ballon d'Or

More often, we determine the triumph of a player by the number of major awards and trophies he has won during his career. There are eight players in the history of football who have won all the three trophies.

Having won a combined ten Ballon d'Or awards, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi rules the 21st century. But not even they are among the eight maestros who have achieved this spectacular triple crown. Both of them could enter this elite group if they are to win in Russia 2018, as they already won the other two.

The 20th-century players include England legend Bobby Charlton, Italian genius Paolo Rossi, German icons Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer. Here we map out four 21st century footballers who have won the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League and Ballon d'Or:

#4 Zinedine Zidane

The perfect combination of balance, skill, prodigious creativity and incredible vision, Zinedine Zidane is undoubtedly regarded as the greatest midfielders of all time.

Zidane helped France to win the 1998 World Cup by scoring twice in their win over Brazil in the final. This triumph won him Ballon d'Or in the same year.

He later moved from Juventus to Real Madrid, where he was an incredible part of the Galacticos, fastening his fame as a midfield maestro. He completed the triple by winning 2002 UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid where he scored a celebrated match-winning goal, in Madrid's 2–1 win.

The goal has been regarded as one of the greatest goals in the Champions Leagues history, thus making him first player in the twenty-first century to win all the three.