Throughout the history of the Ballon d’Or, awarded annually to the best player in the world, the football scene has witnessed controversial moments and accusations of “injustice” towards legends who were unlucky not to win it despite their individual and team achievements. Among these stars, five names stand out as the most unfairly treated: Andrés Iniesta, the Spanish maestro who led his country to win the 2010 World Cup; Thierry Henry, Arsenal’s all-time top scorer and a Premier League legend; Paolo Maldini, the symbol of Italian defense and Milan icon; Xavi Hernández, the mastermind behind tiki-taka style with Barcelona and Spain; and Luis Suárez, the Uruguayan striker who achieved remarkable numbers in La Liga and the Premier League. Despite their achievements that could have secured the award in certain years, competition with modern legends, mainly Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, deprived them of the top spot.

The Ballon d’Or is the greatest dream for any footballer, the highest individual honor in the game. However, despite their legendary achievements, some stars wrote history but never touched this award due to bad luck, fierce competition, or controversial voting decisions. Recently, the global network Lente Desportiva published a ranking of the top 15 players in history who never won the Ballon d’Or, including Andrés Iniesta, Thierry Henry, Paolo Maldini, Xavi Hernández, Luis Suárez, Dennis Bergkamp, Neymar Jr., Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski, Steven Gerrard, Virgil van Dijk, and Zlatan Ibrahimović.