Back in 2012, US outlet Bleacher Report (BR) predicted the next ten winners of the Ballon d’Or - and it makes for interesting reading.
The coveted prize is usually awarded to the player who is considered to be the ‘best’ in the world in a particular season.
Over the years, the voting has been heavily influenced by both domestic and international tournaments.
For example, Manchester City midfielder Rodri won the 2024 edition of the Ballon d’Or on the back of a Premier League title and Euro 2024-winning campaign.
And the Spaniard’s triumph signified the end of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s dominance of the award.
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Messi, 37, and Ronaldo, 40, won a combined 13 Ballon d’Ors between 2008 and 2023, with just Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2022 bucking the trend.
But who did BR tip to win football’s most sought-after individual prize when they made their predictions back in August 2012?
The American outlet backed Messi to win the 2012 award, which he did. They also tipped the Argentinian to secure the 2013 edition of the gong, but this was won by Ronaldo.
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In 2014, BR predicted that the Portuguese would win the award again, and their tip proved to be correct as the then-Real Madrid forward picked up his third Ballon d’Or.
However, their predictions for 2015 and 2016 were questionable. BR backed Mesut Ozil and Mario Balotelli to win the prize in the aforementioned years, but Messi and Ronaldo continued their period of dominance.
In 2017 and 2018, the outlet tipped Eden Hazard and Neymar to secure the prize, but Ronaldo and Modric, 39, were worthy winners.
And their forecasted winners of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 awards were ambitious, to put it lightly.
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BR backed Oscar, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Iker Muniain, who all failed to get near winning the award despite forging respectable careers for themselves. Messi won his sixth award in 2019 and his seventh in 2021.
The Ballon d'Or was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Full list of predicted future Ballon d'or winners
Lionel Messi - 2012
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Lionel Messi - 2013
Cristiano Ronaldo - 2014
Mesut Ozil - 2015
Mario Balotelli - 2016
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Eden Hazard - 2017
Neymar - 2018
Oscar - 2019
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - 2020
Iker Muniain - 2021
Topics: Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Football
Luke Davies