Top 5 Ballon d'Or winners with the least points difference
As far as personal achievement is concerned, the Ballon d'Or is arguably the Nobel prize of football. While there are a select few great players who have not won the award, the Ballon d'Or has helped cement the legendary status of the most talented players in history.
Ballon d'Or races since the turn of the century have often been skewed largely due to the cumulative genius of two particularly prodigious footballers. Before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo decided to duopolise the award, however, the Ballon d'Or ceremony often saw tense contests between contemporary players vying for sporting immortality.
The Ballon d'Or ceremony has witnessed close races in the past
The Ballon d'Or has grown in stature over the years and has now become the most important award available to the sport's elite. The first few Ballon d'Or races were decidedly close, particularly because they included a smaller pool of players and votes.
Recent contests for the award have statistically been fairly lop-sided simply because the voting process for the Ballon d'Or has been expanded to include a larger group of personalities.
As a result, most of the entries on this particular list involve players from a fair few years ago. Let's take a look at some of the most intense contests in Ballon d'Or history.
#5 Stanley Mathews - Alfredo Di Stefano (3 points, 1956)
Stanley Matthews was the first winner of the Ballon d'Or and thoroughly deserved the award in 1956. The English winger was one of the best forwards of his time and thrived under an environment of creativity at Blackpool.
Matthews did inspire Blackpool to an FA Cup and a sensational second-place finish in the league. He also had Real Madrid duo Alfredo Di Stefano and Raymond Kopa to beat in an intense Ballon d'Or race.
Stanley Matthews eventually edged the enigmatic Alfredo Di Stefano to the Ballon d'Or, securing 47 votes to Di Stefano's 44. There was a silver lining for the two Real Madrid stars as well, however, with both Raymond Kopa and Alfredo Di Stefano winning the Ballon d'Or in the following years.
#4 Allan Simonsen - Kevin Keegan (3 points, 1977)
Allan Simonsen is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest Danish players of all time. Simonsen made a name for himself at Borussia Monchengladbach and was 25 years old when he nearly inspired them to an unprecedented European Cup triumph.
Liverpool denied the German outfit its crown in 1977 but Allan Simonsen was aptly rewarded with the Ballon d'Or a few months later. Simonsen beat Michel Platini and Merseyside hero Kevin Keegan by narrow margins to write his name into the history books.
Platini and Keegan would eventually go on to five Ballon d'Ors between them, with Simonsen growing in stature as an iconic figure at Borussia Monchengladbach. The Danish forward went on to enjoy a successful stint at Barcelona and remains one of his country's greatest players.
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