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Zlatan might be known as a god by his adoring followers, but even his divinity was not enough to earn him a Ballon d'Or title, here are five reasons why
Zlatan Ibrahimovic retired from football amidst tears and support from his AC Milan family, and he will forever be known as one of the best players ever to play the game.
Yet, like many exceptional players in football history, Ibrahimovic had a slight blemish on his career because he never managed to win the Ballon d’Or as the best player in the World, but there are five valid reasons why the award eluded him.
International failures with Sweden
Although Zlatan’s international career ended with him as the country’s top scorer in all of its history, Sweden and by extension Ibrahimovic, never managed to make enough of an impression at the most important international tournaments that could have given him an edge in the race for top awards.
Sweden only reached the knockout stage of the World Cup on three occasions during Zlatan’s professional career, the 2002, 2006, and 2018 editions, but he was a peripheral player on one occasion and absent entirely on another.
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As a 21-year-old in 2002 with his career still budding, Zlatan played second fiddle to legends like Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg, so he played a total of 46 minutes, with 44 of those coming in the round of 16 extra-time loss to Senegal.
His most active spell at the World Cup was in 2006 when he played in three matches as Sweden reached the round of 16 once again, but he failed to score a goal or register an assist.
The country’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in 2010 and 2014, as well as his temporary retirement from the national team before the 2018 World Cup, where Sweden reached the quarterfinals, meant that he would not play another World Cup fixture after 2006, ending his career on international football’s biggest stage with only five appearances, no goals, and no assists.
No UEFA Champions League title
One of the great tragedies of Ibrahimovic’s career was that, despite playing for some of the best clubs in Europe, he never quite managed to lift the UEFA Champions League title.
Zlatan played for Ajax, Juventus, Inter, AC Milan, Barcelona, and Manchester United, all past winners of the UCL, but he never managed to win the title while he was with them.
The Swedish striker appeared to be extremely unlucky with the timing of some of his moves, as he joined Inter at the start of the 2006/07 season when AC Milan eventually won the UCL, joined Barcelona ahead of the 2009/10 season where Inter eventually won the title, and then joined AC Milan from Barcelona at the start of the 2010/11 season when the Blaugrana were crowned kings of Europe.
Picking the right moments in his career proved too difficult for Zlatan, as one more season with at least two of the clubs where he left in a hurry could have seen him crowned European champion at least once.
Messi and Ronaldo
Ibrahimovic’s ill luck does not stop there, as the forward, like so many other players, had the misfortune of having their best years fall during the peak of the Messi-Ronaldo stronghold on the Ballon d’Or.
Even during Zlatan’s best years, he had to contend with two of the best players the game has ever seen, as well as the teams that they powered.
All 10 Ballon d’Ors between 2008 and 2018 were shared between Messi and Ronaldo while Zlatan was finding his peak, meaning that it was nigh impossible to win one himself.
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His highest-ever finish in the voting for the award was in 2013, when he finished fourth, with both players and Franck Ribery finishing ahead of him.
Even when he played with Messi at Barcelona, he ended up playing second fiddle and leaving after only one season.
Playing his best seasons in France
Another factor that severely affected his chances of winning the Ballon d’Or was where he spent the best years of his career.
After two impressive seasons at Ajax, Zlatan made a move to Juventus in 2004 but was unable to hit the same highs in Italy even after moving to Inter following the Calciopoli scandal.
When he finally started hitting the strides his potential suggested he was capable of, he shuttled around Barcelona and AC Milan before finally settling for Paris Saint-Germain.
It was in France that he reached the peak of his powers, scoring 156 goals in 186 appearances in all competitions across four seasons, helping PSG to 12 titles.
Despite his incredible achievements, Ibrahimovic was never considered special as the environment of the French Ligue 1 was considered too mundane to consider a player’s achievements special enough to win major individual honours.
Perhaps the biggest example of this is Ibrahimovic’s final season in France where he scored 50 goals in 51 appearances, helping PSG to three titles, but finished 13th in the Ballon d’Or voting, behind even Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who scored 11 goals and won nothing with the Germans.
Never the best player in the world at any time
As a final point, but really a summary, the above points hint at one unfortunate fact for Zlatan, which is that throughout his career, whether while competing with the likes of Ronaldo de Lima and Pavel Nedved, or in the latter part against Messi and Ronaldo, there was not a time where he was indeed the best player in the world.
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Despite being excellent for many years in his storied career and finishing in the top 10 of the final Ballon d’Or standings numerous times, there was no year in particular where Zlatan was the outright best player in the world, owing to one or more factors.
Given that there are numerous legends of the game who also were unable to win the coveted Ballon d’Or for many of the same reasons as Zlatan, there is no shame in the Swiss football demigod failing to win it either, as he has still had a spectacular career without it.
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