As one of world football's most iconic institutions and prolific winners, it's hardly surprising that Liverpool have boasted a plethora of Ballon d'Or contenders since the award was conceived in 1956.
The 20-time English top-flight winners, eight-time FA Cup victors and six-time European champions have produced and attracted some of the most exceptional talents to grace a football pitch.
However, that hasn't always translated into individual acclaim. In fact, Liverpool have a surprisingly short history when it comes to past Ballon d'Or kings, although there have been a few close calls involving the Reds.
Here is every Liverpool player to have ever won the Ballon d'Or.
Every Liverpool Player Who Has Won the Ballon d'Or
Only one player has ever won the Ballon d’Or while wearing Liverpool red.
Forget Steven Gerrard, Kenny Dalglish or Mohamed Salah, it was former striker Michael Owen who earned the honour, scooping the prize in 2001.
Though his later moves to Real Madrid and, far more controversially, Manchester United would tarnish his legacy at Anfield, Owen was once the darling of Liverpool. Rising through the academy ranks at breakneck speed and quickly establishing himself in the first team, he was hailed as the club’s next great saviour.
Owen hit double figures in every Premier League season for Liverpool except his debut year, when he featured just twice. But his defining campaign came in 2000/01. While he would score more goals in the two seasons that followed, it was his role in Liverpool’s historic treble under Gérard Houllier—the League Cup, FA Cup, and UEFA Cup—that sealed his place among the world’s elite.
The highlight was the FA Cup final against Arsenal, where Owen struck twice in the final five minutes to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory—an iconic moment in modern Liverpool history. He finished the season as the club’s top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions.
Those heroics earned him the Ballon d’Or, beating future Real Madrid teammate Raúl and Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper Oliver Kahn to be crowned the best player in the world.
Liverpool Players Who Have Finished in the Ballon d'Or Top Three
Despite their dominance over English football for so long, it wasn't until 1983 that Liverpool boasted a representative on the Ballon d'Or podium. It was naturally King Kenny, who came second in 1983 to Juventus and France's Michel Platini.
Dalglish never tasted Ballon d'Or glory despite his genius and Gerrard suffered a similar fate with the Reds. He had to settle for a third-placed finish in 2005 behind Frank Lampard and winner Ronaldinho, despite having been the linchpin in the Liverpool side that produced that comeback against AC Milan in the Champions League final the same year.
Fernando Torres, Gerrard's partner in crime at Anfield in the late 2000s, also managed a third-placed Ballon d'Or finish in 2008 after scoring the winning goal in the European Championship final with Spain that season. The striker had also netted 33 goals in all competitions in his debut campaign with Liverpool.
Making up a formidable quartet of nearly men is Virgil van Dijk, who was runner-up to Lionel Messi in 2019. The Dutch defender had transformed Jurgen Klopp's side after joining from Southampton and helped the Reds win the Champions League that very year before claiming the Premier League title the next season.
Every Liverpool Player to Finish on the Ballon d'Or Podium
READ MORE ON THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE BALLON D’OR
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Every Liverpool Ballon d'Or Winner Ever.
