With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo out of the running, a new era has begun for the Ballon d’Or. For the first time since 2003, neither of these football icons made it onto this year’s shortlist.
Between them, they’ve clinched the prestigious award 13 times—Messi holding eight of those, including a streak of four consecutive wins from 2009 to 2012.
Although it appeared this era might have started earlier, with Messi missing the…
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