Rio Ferdinand has already named the two players he thinks deserved to win the Ballon d’Or but never have.
Ferdinand, 46, played alongside five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United between 2003 and 2009 before the Portuguese left for Real Madrid.
Ronaldo, 40, won the 2008 Ballon d’Or during his final season at the Red Devils.
Ultimately, he would’ve won several more awards if Lionel Messi hadn’t won eight between 2009 and 2023.
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But during this period, Ronaldo was not the only player who arguably could’ve won the award more if the legendary Argentinian had not existed.
One of the unlucky players was Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, who played for Bayern Munich at the time, and Ferdinand explained how “COVID took away” the Pole’s Ballon d’Or back in 2020.
"Covid took away this man's [Lewandowski's] Ballon d'Or,” Ferdinand said on ‘Rio Ferdinand Presents’ in 2024.
“To think you didn't win a Ballon d'Or in that time. I can only think of Thierry Henry, he's the only other player I look at and go 'he should've won a Ballon d'Or’.”
During the 2020/21 Bundesliga campaign, Lewandowski, 36, scored 41 goals in 29 games - breaking Gerd Muller’s 40-goal record, set in 1971/72.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award was cancelled in 2020, with many saying Lewandowski would’ve picked up the coveted prize.
"I think that’s the only year it was cancelled, for some reason," Lewandowski told FourFourTwo in 2025. "I don’t know why. Maybe some years later, I’ll understand what the reason was. For now, I don’t have the answer.”
Ferdinand has already claimed that former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry should’ve won the award during his illustrious playing career.
Many point to the 2003 award, won by Pavel Nedved, and claim that the Frenchman should’ve been awarded the accolade, having registered 32 goals and 24 assists, which helped the Gunners win the FA Cup during the 2002/03 campaign.
The ex-France international has already made his feelings clear on missing out on the 2003 award.
“Look, you can’t debate opinions," Henry said when speaking on CBS in 2023. "When journalists are involved and have a vote, they vote for whoever they want.
“However you want to look at it, they vote for whoever they want. When you look at the vote in the history of [the Ballon d’Or], not only my year, you [often] look at the top three and think ‘Really?’
“You must have looked at some sometimes and thought, ‘Really?’ So it is what it is. You can’t debate opinions.”
Topics: Rio Ferdinand, Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Thierry Henry, Football
Luke Davies