All Arsenal Ballon d’Or winners

As one of England’s most decorated football clubs, Arsenal have often had the attraction of luring superstars to North London.

However, some of their most iconic talents have arrived with little fanfare, snapped up by Arsene Wenger from across Europe for cheap prices and turned into greats of the game. Even before the arrival of the legendary French manager, the Gunners were a breeding ground for exceptional talent.

But being a world-class footballer is no guarantee of honor, neither for the team nor for the individual. Some of the best players to ever grace the pitch have been rejected for the most prestigious award on earth: the Ballon d’Or.

Here are all of them arsenal player who won the Ballon d’Or.

Unfortunately for the Gooners, no player has ever won the Ballon d’Or while wearing an Arsenal shirt. There have been winners for Blackpool, Dukla Prague, Ferencvaros, Inter Miami and Hamburg, but none for North London.

There have been a few close calls for the Gunners over the years, notably in the early 2000s under Wenger, but to be honest there haven’t been too many occasions since the award’s inception in 1956 where Arsenal have threatened with a Ballon d. ‘O conqueror.

However, the good news for the Gunners is that their stock has risen hugely since the arrival of Mikel Arteta and they have twice come close to a Premier League title that could have influenced the Ballon d’Or voting.

For the Ballon d’Or 2024, Arsenal have two nominated players after stellar 2023/24 campaigns. While Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice are highly unlikely to claim the award, it is a sign that a future Ballon d’Or winner may already be in their squad.

Only one man has ever won the top three Ballon d’Or awards while in Arsenal red and that was the legendary Thierry Henry. The Frenchman is one of the best players never to have won the award, finishing second and third in 2003 and 2006 respectively.

Henry was the leading player in the Premier League in the first half of the 2000s, guiding Arsenal to two top-flight titles. With the Ballon d’Or previously judged on calendar year performance, a sensational 2003 – which provided the first half of the ‘Invincibles’ campaign – saw him rival Juventus’ Pavel Nedved for the award.

Although Nedved had shone in Turin, many were very surprised to see Henry miss out on football’s biggest individual award given his outstanding displays throughout the year.

Henry’s penultimate season with Arsenal may not have resulted in any silverware, but the silky Frenchman helped the Gunners reach Champions League end at the end of the 2005/06 campaign. He also scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup, in which France also reached the top event in Germany.

However, defeats in both of Henry’s finals saw Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro drop him, with Azzurri goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon taking second place.

Every Arsenal player ends up on the Ballon d’Or podium

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