Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Ballon d'Or, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Football
Luke Davies
Topics: Ballon d'Or, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Football
Ten footballers have been tipped to become the second player to win the Super Ballon d’Or.
Most fans are acquainted with the Ballon d’Or, which is awarded every season.
Usually, the perceived best player in the world receives the coveted award, with Lionel Messi boasting eight gongs – the most of any footballer.
Manchester City’s Rodri won the 2024 edition of the Ballon d’Or, while PSG’s Ousmane Dembele is currently the favourite to win the 2025 award.
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But there has been just one player who could say they won the Super Ballon d’Or, and that is Real Madrid icon Alfredo Di Stefano.
Di Stefano, who played for and managed Madrid, was awarded the prize by France Football in December 1989 and beat fellow legend Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini to earn the accolade.
The former striker led Madrid to five consecutive European Cups between 1956 and 1960, a period in which he also picked two regular Ballon d’Or crowns.
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Di Stefano’s Super Ballon d’Or was reportedly kept locked away in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium until it was auctioned off by Di Stefano’s estate in September 2021 and sold for a reported sum of £187,500.
He remains the only player to have received the award, but in June, the Ballon d’Or’s official X account teased a potential return for the Super Ballon d’Or.
A tweet read: “In 1989, one player received a trophy no one else ever has: the Super Ballon d’Or. But who was it? And if it were awarded again today… Who would deserve it?”
It must be noted that France Football have not confirmed that the award could return, although a report from the Spanish AS suggests it may happen in 2029.
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So, SPORTbible asked ChatGPT about the potential winner, and the program suggested ten players.
As expected, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo made up the projected top two with Zinedine Zidane in third.
Ronaldo Nazario was fourth, while Barcelona legends Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Ronaldinho came fifth, sixth and seventh.
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The final three players who made up the projected top ten were Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric and Robert Lewandowski.