Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo absent from the nominees, what was it like last time?

Their exile in lesser championships was a prelude to their downgrading, and the revelation this Wednesday of the nominees for the Ballon d’Or trophy consecrates, this time definitively, the end of an era. An era that we knew was over ended this week. For the first time since 2003 and the beginnings of what would turn into a (virtually) unshared reign between these two monsters of football history, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo are among the nominees.

The last time the list was without these two names was in 2003, a year that saw the trophy awarded to Juventus Turin’s Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved, an unfortunate finalist (editor’s note: he was unable to take part in the match) in the Champions League that year with the Old Lady (editor’s note: they were beaten on penalties by AC Milan in the final) but crowned Italian champion.

Titi Henry beat Paolo Maldini on the podium

Credited with 190 points, awarded by a college of European journalists representing 52 countries, Nedved became in 2003 the eighth Juve player (Fabio Cannavaro the ninth, in 2006) and the second Czech player to obtain this trophy after Josef Masopust in 1962. He was also, recalls France Football, “one of the oldest winners in history, one of the few to have passed the thirty-year mark”, in the company of the illustrious Michel Platini 1985 (30 years old) and Franz Beckenbauer 1976 (31 years old).

Frenchman Thierry Henry, who was considered the favourite, came second, ahead of Rossoneri captain Paolo Maldini. Andriy Chevchenko, who would lift the trophy a year later, and Zinedine Zidane, who was crowned five years earlier, completed the top five. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Gianluigi Buffon and David Beckham followed. Just ahead of Ronaldo, the Brazilian.

The Ballon d’Or ranking in 2003:

1. Pavel Nedved

2. Thierry Henry

3. Paul Maldini

4. Andriy Chevtchenko

5. Zinedine Zidane

6. Ruud van Nistelrooy

7. Raul

8. Roberto Carlos

9. Gianluigi Buffon

10. David Beckham

11. Ronaldo

12. Henrik Larsson

13. Deco

14. Alessandro DelPiero

15. Formation

16. Roy Macay

17. Alessandro Nesta

18. Nihat

19. Francesco Totti

20. Michael Ballack

21. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

22. Philip Inzaghi

23. Jan Koller

24. Adrian Quality

25. Ronaldinho

26. Francis Toldo

- RMC Sport