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Football legends who reached Ballon d'Or top 3 but never won

Published : Monday, 26 October, 2026 at 5:44 PM

Observer Online Report

Collected Photo

The Ballon d'Or stands as football's premier individual honor, yet several of the sport's greatest figures have repeatedly missed out on the award despite securing multiple top-three finishes.

Spain’s Xavi Hernández and Germany’s Bernd Schuster hold the record for the most podium appearances without ever taking home the golden trophy, each featuring in the top three on three separate occasions.

Schuster finished as runner-up in 1980 after leading West Germany to the European Championship, followed by third-place finishes in 1981 and 1985. Decades later, Xavi claimed a hat-trick of third-place finishes in consecutive years—2009, 2010, and 2011—during the peak of Barcelona and Spain's global dominance.

Other legendary players share a similar fate despite their extraordinary careers. Thierry Henry (2nd in 2003, 3rd in 2006) and Andrés Iniesta (2nd in 2010, 3rd in 2012) both came remarkably close. Italian defending icon Paolo Maldini placed third in both 1994 and 2003, while Neymar and Antoine Griezmann each secured two third-place finishes without ever winning the prize.

-EM

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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury

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