Congratulations to Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay, who has earned himself a place on the short list for the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
It has been quite a transformation for the Scotland international, who was deemed surplus to requirements at Manchester United and allowed to move to Napoli for €30 million last summer. Once there, he propelled them to the 2024-25 Serie A title with 12 goals and four assists from 34 games during his debut season, becoming a bona-fide cult hero in the process.
While McTominay — or “McTerminator,” as he’s become affectionately known at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium — is obviously deserving of his Ballon d’Or nomination, he’s not the first name on fans’ lips when you think of the award. So we thought it might be timely to look back over the past decade and pick out a few other players you may have forgotten were ever in contention for European football’s most prestigious individual honor.
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Indeed, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi dominating the winner’s circle for many years, there has been a smattering of curious inclusions in the final voting stage of an illustrious award that has also been claimed by icons such as Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo Nazario, Zinedine Zidane and Franz Beckenbauer.
1. David Luiz (2014)
Fresh off captaining Brazil in their 7-1 humiliation against Germany at the 2014 World Cup on home soil and exiting the semifinals in floods of tears, David Luiz was a somewhat surprising inclusion on the Ballon d’Or short list. The defender moved from Chelsea to Paris Saint-Germain that summer and finished way down the order in the final vote as Ronaldo took the main prize, but Luiz did manage to earn a place in that year’s FIFPro World XI (i.e. the Team of the Year) alongside teammate for club and country Thiago Silva.
2. Dimitri Payet (2016)
Thanks to a sparkling year with West Ham United, when Dimitri Payet scored 17 goals and recorded 23 assists in 56 appearances, Payet played his way to a Ballon d’Or nomination. The mercurial France midfielder did pick up a point in the vote (putting him level with Toni Kroos and Luka Modric), to finish joint-17th, but he was still some 744 points adrift of eventual winner Ronaldo.
3. Jamie Vardy (2016)
Jamie Vardy played an important role in Leicester City’s 5000-1 shot Premier League title win in 2015-16 and his inclusion on the Ballon d’Or short list was perfectly justified. The former non-league striker scored 24 goals in 36 league games and made the list alongside teammate Riyad Mahrez. Vardy even finished above Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Robert Lewandowski in the vote, but was ultimately crowded out of a podium finish by Ronaldo, Messi and Antoine Griezmann.
4. João Félix (2019)
João Félix was unfortunate in that his Ballon d’Or nomination straddled what was an exciting breakthrough season at Benfica and what transpired to be a fairly underwhelming start to life at Atlético Madrid following his enormous €126 million transfer. The young Portugal forward, who has had a bit of a journeyman career ever since and is now playing at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, finished joint-last in the final standings after failing to attract a single voting point.
5. Dusan Tadic (2019)
It’s fair to say that many an eyebrow was raised among Southampton fans when Dusan Tadic, their former winger, received a Ballon d’Or nod in 2019. Having been a somewhat flighty presence for the Saints during their tussle to remain in the Premier League, the Serbia international left for Ajax in an €11.4 million deal and would go on to win the Dutch Eredivisie title while also reaching the Champions League final in his debut season. It was enough to earn a spot on the short list, though he ultimately finished 20th in the overall vote, level with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
6. César Azpilicueta (2021)
César Azpilicueta was one of five Chelsea players (alongside Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté, Romelu Lukaku and Mason Mount) nominated for the 2021 Ballon d’Or after triumphing in the previous season’s Champions League. Unfortunately, the Blues’ captain and erstwhile “Mr. Dependable” was unable to attract a single voting point as Messi went onto hoover up a record 613 points and romp to what was the seventh of his eight career Ballons d’Or (to date), having won the Copa America with Argentina.
7. Darwin Núñez (2022)
Liverpool had a glut of players nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2022, after winning both domestic cups and almost usurping Manchester City in the Premier League title race. While Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are no strangers to the short list, it’s more jarring to remember that Núñez was one of six Reds to receive a nod. The chaotic Uruguay striker had signed from Benfica for an initial €75 million a few weeks before the 2022 Ballon d’Or contenders were announced, so technically it was his 34-goal campaign with the Portuguese side being recognized. But it’s still odd to think that he was vying for the same award once hoisted aloft by Alfredo Di Stefano and Eusebio.
8. André Onana (2023)
André Onana, then Manchester United’s new goalkeeper, managed to play his way to a Ballon d’Or nomination during his maiden season in the Premier League, despite succumbing to a string of calamitous mistakes and handling errors. The Cameroon international was mainly recognized for his efforts for former club Internazionale during the 2022-23 season, where he helped them reach the Champions League final and win the Coppa Italia before moving to Old Trafford for €55 million.
Onana came 23rd in the end, but did manage to muster two points in the final vote, which was two more than fellow stopper Mike Maignan collected after the AC Milan man found himself included on the short list in 2022.
9. Mats Hummels (2024)
Having not made a single Ballon d’Or short list since 2017, Mats Hummels came roaring back into contention in 2024 after captaining Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League final. The 35-year-old Germany center back had left to join AS Roma in the interim and eventually wound up in joint-29th in the vote, level with Artem Dovbyk — who had coincidentally also signed for Roma following a goal-laden season with Girona.
10. Ademola Lookman (2024)
Ademola Lookman was the only African nominee included in the 2024 short list after bagging 24 goals and 16 assists in 52 league games in his first two seasons with Atalanta. A hat trick in the Europa League final win over Bayer Leverkusen obviously helped enormously, but wasn’t enough to propel the ex-Everton winger beyond a 14th-placed finish in the vote, sandwiched between Dani Olmo and Nico Williams and way behind eventual winner Rodri.
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