The last time there was an edition of these awards where neither of the two were nominated was in 2003. There, midfielder Pavel Nedved took home the grand prize, ahead of Frenchman Thierry Henry.
In that year, neither the Portuguese nor the Argentine had the great career they have today.
The 39-year-old was the first to earn a Ballon d’Or nomination in 2004, but still managed to score just 11 points and finish 12th, with Ukraine’s Andriy Shevchenko taking the prize.
The following year, he was again selected as one of the best players in the world, but he was also unlucky as the historic Ronaldinho He won the trophy – the same edition in which the Argentine Juan Roman Riquelme got a nomination-.
It was in 2006 that Messi got his first nomination.playing for Barcelona in Spain, where he only picked up two points and finished twentieth. His great football rival, Cristiano, was also on the list, although he finished with five points.
In the following edition, the Brazilian Kaka won the award, finishing ahead of the Portuguese and the “Pulga”. It was at the 2008 Ballon d’Or when the “Bicho” won his first award after a great season at Manchester United in England, where he won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League.
At 22 years old, In 2009, Messi became the winner of the grand prize after an excellent year in which he won the “sextet” with Barcelona: Copa del Rey, Champions League, European Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
After the captain of the national team won the next three awards, in 2013 and 2014 Ronaldo won his second and third awards wearing the shirt of Real Madrid of Spain, where he won several titles such as the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
Although the “Pulga” prevented the Portuguese from winning his third Ballon d’Or in 2015, the European won the award in the following two editions, with the Argentine finishing behind him.
2018 was the year in which neither of them won the award, as it was the Croatian Luka Modric who won. Even so, Ronaldo finished behind the “Cruyff of the Balkans”, closing his time at Real Madrid and starting a new season wearing the shirt of Juventus of Italy. In fifth place was Messi.
The following year, the world champion won his sixth Ballon d’Or and, although in 2020 there was no edition of these awards due to Covid-19, he won the award that year while playing for PSG, where he won Ligue 1 and obtained his first Copa América with Argentina.
Frenchman Karim Benzema took home the award in the 2022 edition, the same one in which Ronaldo finished in twentieth place, after not scoring any points, and the Argentine was not nominated.
In 2023, Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or, already playing for Inter Miami of the United States and a few months after winning the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which he won with the Argentine national team.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
