Eight-time winner of the Ballon d'Or, Lionel Messi was crowned in 2010. Fourteen years later, Wesley Sneijder still believes he was robbed.
If records are made to be broken, the one that Lionel Messi currently holds with his eight Ballon d'Or trophies should not be broken for a while. Crowned for the first time in 2009, the Argentinian then kept it for three more years. And the one won in 2010 is still talked about fourteen years later. That year, Wesley Sneijder had shone for club and national team, but the Dutchman had not been crowned, enough to convince him that he had been robbed.
Years later, the former Inter Milan still has this ridge across his throat. If today he prefers to talk about it with a smile, a regret remains. And even an accusation towards the voters who placed him in fourth position with 14.48% of the votes behind a trio “made in FC Barcelona”, composed of Lionel Messi (22.65%), Andrés Iniesta ( 17.37%) and Xavi (16.48%). Questioned on the subject this week at the EWC microphone, Sneijder did not beat around the bush.
Wesley Sneijder claims to have been robbed
“Yes (I was robbed). But to be honest, the fact that people are still talking about it in 2024, fourteen years later, makes me happier. They tell me: 'Wes, you were robbed in 2010.' Imagine I won it and people said:
'Yeah…He stole it.' Individual accolades are good, but team awards, lifting the Champions League have been much more important than winning the Ballon d'Or. »
Does Wesley Sneijder really mean what he says? We can still doubt it a little, as the supreme individual reward is a Holy Grail for many footballers. During this famous year 2010, the man who is now forty years old shone with Inter Milan. Winner of the C1, he also won the Serie A and the Italian Cup for a historic treble for the Nerazzurri. In the national team, he also reached the final of the World Cup, which he ultimately lost to Spain, but finished as co-top scorer (five goals).
