The last Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or, Michael Owen received the coveted award back in 2001, joining Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton and Kevin Keegan in the list of winners to originate from the country that invented the sport.
Monopolised by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi since 2008, the Ballon d’Or saw its 2016 nominees announced on Monday by France Football, who regained full control of the award they created in 1956 after six years of partnership with FIFA.
Moving to Real Madrid in 2004 after many years of being chased by Florentino Pérez, Michael Owen was asked by France Football if he felt his move to the Galacticos would have ever happened had he not won the Ballon d’Or three years previous.
He said: “I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure of it. They must have told themselves: ‘What’s he really worth that Michael Owen? He won the Ballon d’Or, right? He can’t be that awful!’
“You only need to look at how they made a meal out of it, non stop, when I arrived. That Real was all glamour, they were the Galacticos, they were Ballon d’Ors, it was their club.”
Owen, now a pundit/commentator on BT Sport, also admitted that while 2001 was his best year football wise, he felt he performed better in the years prior to the win, but team trophies made that year the year the recognition was at its highest.
His favourite for this year, however? Cristiano Ronaldo. Because of the trophies.
