Top 10 players who never won the UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League – the holy grail of European club football and easily the most prestigious club football tournament in the world. A challenging tournament format with group and knockout stages, it is a trophy that only the best of the best have ever laid their hands on.

But at the same time, there have been some football legends that have never lifted the coveted trophy. No matter how many accolades they have won in club football, their resumes are sadly incomplete without Europe’s top honour. Here is a list of ten of the best who have never won the Champions League.

Ronaldo - Il Fenomeno

Ronaldo

Only three players have won the FIFA Player of the Year thrice and Ronaldo is the only one who hasn’t won the Champions League (Zidane and Messi being the other two). Between 1993 and 2008, Il Fenomeno played for various European clubs like Cruzeiro, PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan. Perhaps the most complete striker in the recent past, Ronaldo has also won the World Cup twice with Brazil. He is also the highest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup with 15 goals.

But in spite of scoring 49 goals in European competitions, Ronaldo never got to win the Champions League. Perhaps his biggest opportunity to win the trophy was with the Galacticos at Real Madrid when he partnered Figo, Zidane, Raul, Roberto Carlos and Beckham. Even though he scored 104 goals for Real Madrid, the club failed in their attempts to win an unprecedented tenth title. His only European triumph was a UEFA Cup with Inter Milan in 1998 and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with Barcelona in 1997.