The Golden Ball is the most prestigious individual award in modern football, and every year the players struggle to show the best class in order to receive this award. However, she gets, of course, only one person. And in this article you will learn about the record holder who earned the most Golden Goals in history. As you may have guessed, we will talk about the Argentine striker “Barcelona” Lionel Messi. How many Golden Balls does Messi have? You will receive exactly this information if you read this article.
The fact is that this football player is already thirty years old, so a pretty rich career lies behind him. And for all this time, he managed to earn the nickname "alien", which refers to his playing abilities, which no player on the planet has demonstrated before him. But it's time to return to the main topic of the article. So how many golden balls does Messi have?
What kind of player is this?
Before considering the question of how many “Golden Balls” Messi has, it is necessary to tell a little about who this football player is in general. Most likely, you heard about him even if you are not interested in football at all, because he is a real phenomenon. He was born in Argentina and played for the youth academies of several clubs, but was short, rather weak and painful. However, his talent was undeniable, so the scouts of Barcelona, who came to see the Old Boys in 1999, immediately drew attention to him. The club agreed to pay for his treatment if Leo agreed to move to Barcelona, and so he ended up in the club, which led to incredible success.
He spent his entire career in the Catalan grandee, with whom he became the champion of Spain eight times, five times won the Spanish Cup, and four times won the Champions League, the most prestigious club trophy in the world. As you can see, his career is indeed very successful. With this in mind, you can begin to consider the issue of how many “Golden Balls” Messi has.
Trophy number 1
If you want to know how many “Golden Balls” Messi got, then you should look at his trophy path from the very beginning. It would seem that an experienced football player should receive such a prestigious award, but Leo first appeared on the podium in 2007, when he was only 20 years old. Then he took third place, losing to Cristiano Ronaldo, with whom he subsequently competed for the next ten years, as well as Kaka, who won the trophy that year. In 2008, Messi stepped closer to victory, taking second place and losing to Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, in 2009, what many were expecting with bated breath happened - 22-year-old Argentine talent won his first Golden Ball.
Second trophy
However, this was far from the last Golden Ball. How many times has Messi received this award? Definitely more than once, otherwise he could not have become a champion. In 2010, he continued his triumphant series, ahead of a couple percent of his teammates, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. Many believe that the Iniesta club’s brain really deserved the award that year, but since 2010 the system has changed, and it has become much more difficult for other players to receive the award, which is why its value has slightly decreased.
Many say that FIFA will give out a reward only to two players whose victory is best paid. However, it is impossible to prove this, so everyone must draw conclusions independently. In the meantime, it’s worth returning to the dry facts about such a football player as Lionel Messi: how many Golden Goals did he win in his career? So far, we have managed to count two, but what will happen next?
Third award
In 2011, Leo won the third “Golden Ball” in his career, and no one doubted this trophy. He really was the best. 47 percent voted for him, and he left far behind his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo and teammate Xavi.
Trophy number 4
2012 was the jewel in the crown of Leo because he was able to win the Golden Ball for the fourth time in a row. And again it was a convincing victory, he received 41 percent of the vote, than proved to the whole world that he is the best football player on the planet. The company was again composed by Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as a teammate, only this time Andres Iniesta. However, this happy period for Lionel ended.
Fifth reward
After 2012, there was a two-year break during which Leo was unable to win the Golden Ball. Both times he was in second place, both times in front of him was Cristiano Ronaldo, and behind him - the football player of Bayern Munich. In 2013, it was Frank Ribery, and in 2014, Manuel Neuer. As a result, Messi managed to break a series of failures only in 2015, when he again received 41 percent of the vote, ahead of both his eternal opponent Ronaldo and his young teammate Neymar. As for the last draw of the Golden Ball, Messi was again in second place, losing to Ronaldo, and Antoine Griezmann, who was in the top three for the first time in his career, landed in third place.
Well, now you know the answer to the question of how many times Messi has received the Golden Ball. This prestigious award for his entire career he was awarded five times. And this is the best result in history. However, very close to him is the very Cristiano Ronaldo, who has four Golden Balls on his account. Third place is shared between Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten, who received three awards at a time, that is, in the seventies, eighties and nineties, when the trophy was still given to different players, and not just two.