Ballon d’Or controversial winners and snubbed stars that left fans scratching their heads – Daily Star

Ballon d’Or controversial winners and snubbed stars that left fans scratching their heads – Daily Star. Here we go again — the Ballon d’Or ceremony is one of the most controversial evenings in the footballing world.

Narratives, warring fans and criteria confusion can lead to fury; just last year Real Madrid players refused to attend the ceremony as Manchester City’s Rodri was handed the award. However, that’s not the only instance of controversy.

Michael Owen won the award in 2001 – more on that later – despite four other Premier League players outscoring him during the 2000/01 season.

And with that in mind, Daily Star Sport runs down the most controversial Ballon d’Or moments…

Spain’s World Cup win was the most memorable achievement of 2010, with La Roja winning their first world title.

That led to many believing that Andreas Iniesta, the scorer of the winner in the final, or team-mate Xavi would be crowned the winner of the Ballon d’Or.

Instead, though, the award went to their Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi, with voters clearly not feeling sentimental towards Spain.

Igor Belanov’s win came during the time when only European players were considered in the Ballon d’Or.

That immediately ruled out Diego Maradona, who almost single-handedly led Argentina to the World Cup.

England striker Gary Lineker was well in the running having picked up the golden boot at the tournament, but it was instead Dynamo Kyiv striker Belanov who was victorious.

Having scored 42 goals and notched 26 assists in a calendar year, Thierry Henry was seen as the frontrunner for the 2003 Ballon d’Or.

But in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the award, it was Juventus star Pavel Nedved who was crowned the winner.

Nedved had helped Juve to the final of the 2003 Champions League, but many were still surprised the see the Czech international beat Henry.

2000 was an incredibly controversial year for Portugal star Luis Figo, who also moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid that July.

On top of that transfer between the El Clasico rivals, Figo also claimed a surprise win over Zinedine Zidane in the Ballon d’Or.

Figo himself later admitted that he should not have received the award that year, believing it should have gone to Roma legend Francesco Totti instead.

“Sorry for stealing the Ballon d’Or in 2000 – you deserved it,” he said in a message to the Italian.

The early Noughties were clearly the best if you were looking for Ballon d’Or controversy, with Michael Owen coming in the middle of a hat-trick of surprise wins.

Owen had scored 24 goals as Liverpool won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup, as well as starring for England in the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup.

But many were shocked that Owen had beaten Real Madrid striker Raul to the award, with the Spaniard having fired Los Blancos to a Champions League title win.