Virgil van Dijk Breaks Silence After 'Shocking' Final Position in Ballon D'Or Vote

Virgil van Dijk has broken his silence after the Liverpool captain placed 28th in the 2025 men's Ballon d'Or vote.

The Netherlands international was among the 30 nominees for the award but his hopes of a high placing were quickly ended on Monday night.

Van Dijk was not among the favourites to win the award, which was lifted by Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembele, but his lowly placing was still questioned by many on social media.

His Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah came in fourth position, despite winning the Premier League Golden Boot award and helping the Reds to lift the Premier League title.

His side's round of 16 Champions League exit to PSG, though, will almost certainly have been the factor behind why the Egyptian didn't place higher in, or even win, the award.

Reds midfielder Alexis Mac Allister placed 22th, while his new team-mate Florian Wirtz finished in 29th - albeit the German was nominated for his performances with Bayer Leverkusen rather than his so far brief spell at Anfield.

Van Dijk has become the first of the Liverpool quartet to officially respond to the Ballon d'Or vote - with what seems to be a pointed message towards the award's organisers.

Posting a series of photos of himself at the ceremony in Paris, he captioned the post: "Better luck next time."

It was accompanied by a laughing and fingers-crossed emoji.

What have Liverpool said about the Ballon d'Or vote?

The above four players were not the only Liverpool representatives to miss out on a major Ballon d'Or award.

Goalkeeper Alisson placed second in the Men's Yashin Trophy vote, while Arne Slot missed out on Men's Coach of the Year to PSG's Luis Enrique.

Liverpool posted twice about the awards on Monday, first acknowledging Salah's fourth place finishing position in the men's Ballon d'Or before posting a series of photos celebrating the Egyptian's season.

Perhaps explaining the feelings of the red half of Merseyside about Salah's final placing, the post was captioned: "A season to savour for Salah."

The wait for an active Liverpool player to win the Ballon d'Or will stretch to 25 years as a result of Monday's results.

Michael Owen became the youngest player to win the award when he scooped it in 2001, with Van Dijk's second place finish in 2019 the closest any Reds star has come to doing likewise since then.