Since 1956, France Football magazine has awarded the Ballon d’Or award to the best player of the year; but since its inception it was only awarded to European players, it was not until 1995 that any player in the world could qualify for the prize.
Pelé’s golden age was from 1957 to 1970, which is why he was never the winner of a Ballon d’Or. However, France Football itself recently revealed the winners of each edition without the restriction of nationality and the Brazilian star would have won 7 awards, the same as the top winner Lionel Messi.
1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1970 will be the years in which O’Rei would have won the award for best soccer player; he would even share with Messi not only the number of wins but also the 4 in a row as Messi did between 2009 and 2012.
However, Pelé did leave a Ballon d’Or in his showcases, because in 2013 FIFA decided to give the Brazilian a Ballon d’Or as recognition and O’Rei was moved and knew that it was a nice finishing touch for his career. “I want to thank God that now I have this award that I was missing for my trophy room,” Pelé commented on that occasion.
unrestricted winners
Other players who would have won a Ballon d’Or in their time if the nationality restriction did not exist would be:
Garrincha (1962)
Mario Alberto Kempes (1978)
Diego Maradona (1986 and 1990)
Romario (1994)
Read also:
– Pelé’s anecdotes in Hollywood: From Steven Spielberg’s broken promise to how he made Robert Redford annoyed
– The reasons why Pelé rejected Real Madrid in his prime
– Pelé monopolizes the front pages of the different newspapers in the world that bid him the last goodbye [Fotos]