It’s not to be, although it did get us thinking about dominant Ballon d’Or victories of the past. I'm a big fan of all your work, lads, mainly the earlier stuff like, before you ruined 30 goals a season strikers for everyone by knocking in more than Dixie Dean, Eusebio and Gerd Muller combined, every season. Joakim's father, Yannick, was a tennis legend before making a name for himself as a singer. Are you able to follow their matches and results regularly during the season?Not really. Having taken both the Premier League and 1998 World Cup by storm, THAT GOAL against Argentina included, Owen seemed destined to be his generation's Gary Lineker. It was fantastic. He was the top scorer in the Bundesliga with 26 goals as Bayern clinched the title and he carried that influence with him to Euro 1980. Topics: Football News, Football, Ballon d'Or. Firstly, because he’s Swedish and I love the country and the people. His exploits in that tournament emerged after he helped Milan to lift their first Scudetto in eight years, although his season was marred by an ankle injury which even threw his Euros participation into doubt. Ballon d'Or Winner's List. Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Just let that sink in, for a minute. All rights reserved. Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Not to mention the joy he's bringing Paris and the Parc des Princes – the rest of the PSG players love him. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were both out of the running for this year’s Ballon d’Or so that means, no one is allowed to win it in 2020…. And he probably should have won the Puskas award that year as well for his mesmerising solo goal against Athletic Bilbao. What is your favourite footballing memory?Definitely the 1998 World Cup, although not the France matches, because I was in Sweden at the time. As the Argentine was losing the Copa America final and another chance of silverware with his country slipped by, Ronaldo was winning his first. Then his legs exploded four years later. Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski is naturally most aggrieved considering both the collective and individual success he enjoyed in 2019/20. The voting wasn’t even close as Ronaldo pulled away from Messi and Antoine Griezmann. Zinedine Zidane won the 1998 Ballon d'Or to cap off one of the most historic calendar years by an individual in football history. Once the dribbler, then the false nine, here he became the playmaker and it saw him reach new heights of excellence. Though I did go to the Stade de France for the opening game between Scotland and Brazil. All you want is the 1998 Ballon d'Or, every...single...year. In the 1979/80 season, Rummenigge exploded. Messi and Ronaldo feature strongly, of course, but what did they and others achieve to record such massive wins? We all remember this Ballon d’Or ceremony for the suit, right? His 19 Serie A strikes came at a time when clean sheets were viewed in equal esteem to goals in Italy, helping to push him ahead of Milan greats Franco Baresi and Rijkaard. And it just wouldn't be an assortment of '90s icons without a couple of Italian forwards making an appearance. You’re a Paris Saint-Germain fan. A Ballon d’Or triumph was in no doubt and he left Marseille a year later in a world-record switch to AC Milan. Even Maldini was in cold sweats), wasn't even considered to be the best striker in the world by the Ballon d'Or voters in 1998. 1998 Ballon d'Or winner Zinedine Zidane The 1998 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to Zinedine Zidane on 22 December 1998.