21 Autos from 21 Ballon D’Or winners
This week saw the release of one of our most popular collections: UCC Inception. This year we have taken thing’s up a notch, adding in one of the most mind-boggling chase cards ever: The 1/1 Les Gagnants Book Card. 21 Players. 21 Ballon D’or winner.🤯
To start, our hero image sandwiches all-time Ballon D’or record holder, Lionel Messi, between the last defender to take home the prize (Fabio Canavaro) as well as the last player to win the Award pre-GOAT era (Kaka). After the Brazilian pipped Messi and Ronaldo to the award in 2007, the two forwards would go on to dominate for the next 10 years!
Pre-GOAT Era
Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the Ballon D’or was won by a range of footballing talents across multiple European Leagues. The six players above all won the award on one occasion, between the period of 1999-2005. At the peak of their powers, they were unstoppable but no one could match the alien consistency of the two GOATS.
90s Kings
Next we’ve got the kings of the 90s, starting with 3-times winner Marco Van Basten, who’s last title was in 1992. He is tied with Michel Platini and Johan Cruyff for third place in overall wins behind, well…you know who. Ronaldo (R9) completes the six, collecting his last Ballon D’or in 2002 – without his track record for injuries, it certainly would have been more.
Hala Madrid and The Innovators
We finish on a Real Madrid trio. A team that have won the joint highest number of Ballon D’or’s (12) tied with Barcelona. As we know both Spanish clubs have a taste for success, so being the key player on route to a Champions League win certainly helps to put you in the driving seat for the award. The other side of the card includes three scholars of the game taking their extreme intelligence and innovation on the pitch into team management.
