Premier League - The curse of the Ballon d'Or

Eurosport - Tue, 02 Dec 17:04:00 2008

Cristiano Ronaldo has pledged to get "even better" after winning the Ballon d'Or, but history suggests that may not be easy.

2006 Chelsea Andriy Shevchenko - 0

No player has won the award twice since the Brazilian Ronaldo (1997 and 2002), and few winners over the last 10 years have thrived afterwards.

Eurosport-Yahoo! investigates whether Cristiano Ronaldo could be about to experience the curse of the Ballon d'Or.

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2007 - Kaka

The mercurial Brazilian is still one of the best players in the world, but dropped to eighth in the voting after a disastrous season with Milan, who failed to qualify for the Champions League. Has started diving.

Curse rating: 5/10

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2006 - Fabio Cannavaro

Cannavaro was chosen after a magnificent World Cup, but is now in terminal decline. Moved to Real Madrid after Juventus' enforced relegation and, despite winning La Liga, has committed a number of uncharacteristic blunders.

Curse rating: 7/10

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2005 - Ronaldinho

Not so long ago, Ronaldinho was universally acknowledged as the best player in the world. This year he didn't even make the top 30. Form, fitness and motivation deserted him at Barcelona and he is trying to get back on track with Milan.

Curse rating: 10/10

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2004 - Andriy Shevchenko (pictured)

Once the deadliest striker in the world, Shvechenko's career nosedived after moving to Chelsea in 2006. Roman Abramovich's £30m plaything scored just 16 league goals in two seasons, found himself dropped and has been loaned back to Milan.

Curse rating: 8/10

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2003 - Pavel Nedved

Although 2002/03, when Juventus reached the Champions League final, proved the pinnacle of his career, the Czech is still a consistent performer aged 36. Suffered the indignity of a season in Serie B with Juve but stayed loyal.

Curse rating: 2/10

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2002 - Ronaldo

Ronaldo was already on his third or fourth comeback when he won his second Ballon d'Or in 2002. His career has imploded spectacularly since, although he had two more good seasons with Real Madrid before it all went pear-shaped.

Curse rating: 6/10

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2001 - Michael Owen

A sorry catalogue of injuries ensured Owen has never come close to replicating his 2000/01 season, when he helped Liverpool to a Cup treble and scored a hat-trick against Germany. Now a pale shadow of his former self.

Curse rating: 8/10

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2000 - Luis Figo

Was crowned in the year of his sensational move from Barcelona to Real Madrid, and his sensational play continued among the Galacticos. Won two Liga titles, one Champions League and captained Portugal to the Euro 2004 final.

Curse rating: 1/10

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1999 - Rivaldo

Another Brazilian. Rivaldo's career experienced a slow decline rather than a sudden halt, and he still managed to win the 2002 World Cup. Thereafter it all went wrong with an abortive move to Milan, and he now plays in Uzbekistan.

Curse rating 3/10

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 48 - 67 of 67

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  1. alex chick/sharrat is useless

    From Unknown U, on Wed 3 Dec 2:26PM
  2. During the time of Zidane, Ronaldo Brazil, Figo,­ Rivaldo football was very impressing more far than­ today.The players of this period are not consistent­ truely to say.Kaka, Robinho and Fabregas would only the­ few to mention

    From Rwigamba, on Wed 3 Dec 1:42PM
  3. hey zoran your fairly fond of zidane there arent ya, do­ i detect a hint of gay....

    From flinto, on Wed 3 Dec 12:29PM
  4. Listen People. Zidane is the greatest player of all­ time unless you wanna mention Pele but Zidane was just­ out of this world. Ever since Zidane left Real Madrid,­ Madrid haven't done anything really. Watch Zidane­ at the 2006 World Cup vs Brazil and let me remind you­ that those were some of the better years for Kaka but­ especially Ronaldinho. Zidane owned the whole Brazil­ team with help from Ribery ofcourse however they way­ Zidane controlled the midfield was unbelivable. Zidane­ is the greatest of all time. 3 time World Fifa player­ of the year. Cristiano Ronaldo is a fantastic player­ and deserves the award without a doubt but lets see in­ a couple of years if he can still play at this level­ and honestly I do believe that he can but only time­ will tell.

    From flinto, on Wed 3 Dec 4:12AM
  5. I also believe that as good a Zidane was, he can not be­ compared to Cruiff, Pele or Maradona. I also believe­ that C. Ronaldo is faster and has much better dribbling­ ability than Zidane. Zidane was stronger as a play­ maker.

    From hector2garcia, on Wed 3 Dec 2:14AM
  6. qasim, I'm sorry but Zidane is very much a legend!­ When you power your country to a World Cup and then the­ Euro Cup, you cannot be anything less than legendary.­ Also opowicz is right, Zidane has way more footballing­ insight than Ronaldo. He was a way more intelligent­ footballer than Ronaldo is. Granted, Zidane didn't­ have speed or as much power but heading ability, skills­ and tricks, dribbling ability? You must be joking!­ Zidane could head fantastically, and had a boatload of­ skill and could dribble with the best of them. He could­ also read the game very well, deliver the killer pass,­ had a marvelous first touch, excellent ball control, a­ wicked shot... I could go on. How on earth is Ronaldo a­ more complete footballer?? A big fan of Ronaldo's­ ability but c'mon, let's be real here. What­ next? Messi is better than Maradona? That said, Ronaldo­ may eventually surpass Zidane, he does have time on his­ side, but I seriously doubt it.

    From Jideobi, on Tue 2 Dec 11:27PM
  7. qasim what are you talking about? In the World Cup 98­ Final against Brazil Zidane won it for France with 2­ headers. What has Ronaldo ever done in a big match­ except miss spot kicks?

    From tom h, on Tue 2 Dec 9:29PM
  8. qasim has lost the plot now, how can you say it was­ easier to win the european cup back then when today you­ can lose a game and still win it. You couldnt back­ then. And I have to agree with michael, dalglish was a­ class act and rush was a fantastic goal scorer. How an­ FA coach cant see that is beyond me. Go back and coach­ monkey tennis mate!!

    From Dan, on Tue 2 Dec 8:19PM
  9. Another thing michael which u failed to mention. It was­ much easier to win the european cup when loserpool used­ to compete for it. It was a knockout comp back then and­ u didnt have to win many matches at all to win the cup.­ In addition only the champions of certain countries­ were permitted to enter.

    From qasim7uk, on Tue 2 Dec 6:54PM
  10. Michael u idiot, I know my football inside out. i am a­ fa coach so why dont u realise loserpool scum. Rush­ couldnt even bloody score against the utd side in­ something like 17 or 18 matches. A world class player­ who cant even score 1 in so many games? U fool. Why the­ hell would players like Daglish or Rush win it if such­ legends like Cantona couldnt?

    From qasim7uk, on Tue 2 Dec 6:52PM
  11. qasim7uk u must be a mank how can u say Dalglish and­ Rush werent great players u dont no ur arse from ur­ elbow kenny got to four european cup finals winning­ three of them an rush was just a goal machine. go an­ eat a prawn sarnie

    From Michael, on Tue 2 Dec 5:35PM
  12. qasim 7 you are a moron zidane had more football­ insight in his little pinky than ronaldo i am a big cr­ fan but you cannot compare him to zidane not yet
    i­ mean in some games zidane only played with the outside­ of his boot i mean that is just crazy and zidane­ carried his country to wc and ec victory so you cannot­ compare the 2 just yet

    From opowicz, on Tue 2 Dec 5:25PM
  13. was bist du eigentlich fuer ein voll idiot alistair,­ sag mir das denn

    From ralph, on Tue 2 Dec 5:21PM
  14. sorry last was meant for alistair irons lol

    From ralph, on Tue 2 Dec 5:20PM
  15. so alistair islands why are u wasting your time in this­ forum then? arnt there enough problems like uranium­ depletion etc for u to get busy with, your comment was­ absolutely ridiculous and u totally missed the point,­ but why go into that.

    From ralph, on Tue 2 Dec 5:19PM
  16. It's only opinion after all and the article­ doesn't set out to be comprehensive but what amazes­ me is what a bunch of get-a-life losers get totally­ wound up by what is actually nothing more than a­ pastime ... really if you want to get excersised about­ something make it worthwhile like depleted uranium or­ the terror atatcks in India ... but the Ballon­ 'Dor, some children never grow up.

    From Alastair, on Tue 2 Dec 5:08PM
  17. Zidane was good but he wants a legend. He was nothing­ compared to cryuff, maradonna and pele. Ronaldo is the­ best player since Maradonna and will prove to be one of­ the worlds greats. Zidane never had the speed, heading­ ability of power that ronaldo has on top of skill,­ tricks and dribbling ability. Zidane could play the­ killer ball but Ronaldo is a much more complete player­ than Zidane and Ron is only 23. Its frightening to­ think how good Ronaldo will become. All the people­ dissing Ronaldo are jealous of his ability, looks and­ money. Sad little people get a life, u anti man u fans.

    From qasim7uk, on Tue 2 Dec 5:07PM
  18. idiotic article

    From ralph, on Tue 2 Dec 5:03PM
  19. Lyndon u idiot. The award means plenty. Kenny Daglish­ wasnt a great player, neither was Ian Rush. There were­ plenty of far better players in England let alone­ Europe and thats why they never won it. They werent­ worthy of cleaning platinis boots with their tongues.­ Your just jealous as the only Pool player to have won­ it was Owen and he left you.

    From qasim7uk, on Tue 2 Dec 5:01PM
  20. Ronaldo Will Be The End Of This­ So-called-curse

    HEHEHEHHEHE!

    Ronalod manutd­ rulez

    FARASH DUDE

    From alipharax, on Tue 2 Dec 5:01PM
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