Top 10 players never to have won the Ballon d'Or

Remember when everyone thought that Franck Ribery deserved to win the Ballon d’Or in 2013 or Wesley Sneijder in 2010? They are not the only ones who have been unlucky. There are other players who had outstanding seasons with club or country, but never won the Ballon d'Or.The following top 10 players have never won the Ballon d’Or:

#1 Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry definitely deserved the Ballon d’Or at some point his Arsenal career. He has certain records that might never be broken in EPL which includes most Premier League Golden Boots, 5 French Player of the Year Awards, Arsenal's all time top Goal Scorer, France top goal scorer and 3 time FWA Player of the Year. Between 1999 and 2007, Henry scored 226 goals for Arsenal, for whom he won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups.

What's more, the Frenchman was the focal point as the Gunners went the entire 2003-04 campaign unbeaten in which he scored 30 goals in the league alone. The 2004 winner was Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko and while he did help his team win the 2002/03 European Cup by netting four goals in 11 appearances, this was sub-par when compared to Henry’s seven goals in 12 European appearances the same year. Henry was also behind Deco and Ronaldinho, coming fourth.

The next season, both scored similarly in Europe. However, Henry’s league goal tally surpassed Shevchenko’s. Later there would be domestic and European success with Barcelona, but the Ballon d'Or remained elusive. Henry finished second once, when he was pipped by Juventus and Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved in 2003.

Henry made the top three in 2006, but came third. That year, he lost out to Real Madrid centre-back Fabio Cannavaro, and even came behind Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, despite being the top goal scorer in England and second in Europe.