Like Vinicius Junior this year, Wesley Sneijder believes he was the victim of a terrible injustice in 2010 when he finished only in fourth place for the Ballon d’Or.
Fourteen years later, Wesley Sneijder still hasn’t digested it. How could the Ballon d’Or have escaped him in 2010? That year, the elegant Batavian number 10 crushed while winning a historic treble with Inter Milan. Under the orders of José Mourinho, he added Serie A, the Champions League and the Italian Cup to his list of achievements, delighting Samuel Eto’o, Goran Pandev and Diego Milito with his offerings.
“People still talk about it”
Already exceptional, his season continued in the selection with very high performances during the 2010 World Cup, until the final lost to Andrés Iniesta’s Spain. The Golden Ball goes to Lionel Messi. Worse, Sneijder did not even finish on the podium, also ahead of Iniesta and Xavi. Difficult to hear for the former Ajax and Real Madrid player, still convinced today of having been the victim of a scandal.
“I too was robbed of the Ballon d’Or,” he said this week during an advertising event, echoing Rodri’s surprise coronation in front of Vinicius Junior. “Honestly, I’m glad people are still talking about it in 2024. People keep telling me, ‘Wesley, you got robbed in 2010!’ Individual awards are nice, but trophies won as a team, like lifting the Champions League, all that has more value than winning that Ballon d’Or,” he said in comments reported by the Daily Mail .
This fourth place in 2010 remains the best Ballon d’or ranking for Sneijder, whose sporting career ended in 2019 after a final stint in Qatar at Al-Gharafa.
Morocco
