Pele is one of the legendary footballers who have never won the Ballon d’Or, the most important individual award.

Although Edson Arantes before Nascimento, known as Pele, never won the Ballon d’Or, he was one of the greatest footballers in history.

For 40 years, the “Golden Ball” has been awarded exclusively to European football players

Brazil’s Pele died on Thursday at the age of 82 after battling a relentless illness, and the world of football was rocked by the death of the only player to win the World Cup three times.

Despite his great achievements on the football field, Pele has no Ballon d’Or.

Representatives of France Football began to award this distinction in 1956, and for almost 40 years this award was intended for football players in Europe.

Initially, it was called “Trophée du footballeur européen de l’année à l’étranger” (a trophy for a European football player from abroad), and only in 1995 the publication Hexagon opened nominations for all players on the planet.

At the same time, George Weah became the only African player in history to win the award.

Pele, equal to Lionel Messi

Several experts from around the world said that if the France Football representatives had not established this rule, according to which the potential winner must be from the old continent, Pele would have won the title of the best football player in the world 7 times, compared to Lionel Messi.

The only person who could have stopped Pele on his way to 7 consecutive Ballon d’Ors would have been his compatriot Garrinch in 1962.

At the same time, both Diego Maradona, Romario, or Mario Kempes could have won the Ballon d’Or, if the distinction was not originally only for European football players.

How many Golden Balls would Pele have won and in what years

1958 – Raymond Copa (France) – Pele

1959 – Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina and Spain) – Pele

1960 – Luis Suarez (Spanish) – Pele

1961 – Omar Sivori (Argentina and Italy) – Pele

1962 – Josef Masopust (Czech Republic) – Harrincha

1963 – Lev Yashin (USSR) – Pele

1964 – Denis Law (Scotland) – Pele

1970 – Gerd Müller (Germany) – Pele

1978 – Kevin Keegan (English) – Mario Kempes

1986 – Igor Belanov (USSR) – Diego Maradona

1990 – Lothar Matthaus (Germany) – Diego Maradona

1994 – Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) – Romario

>> Romanians’ memories of Pele: “I sat down behind a worm / His T-shirt with me / He called me “Slut”, then spat on me”

>> Image of the day after the death of Pele – What the king said after the disappearance of his rival Diego Maradona

>> Cristiano Ronaldo, an emotional post after the death of the “eternal king Pele”

>> Lionel Messi, post with millions of likes: “Rest in peace, Pele”

>> How did Pele get to Cosmos New York? Huge sums, colleague Beckenbauer and nightlife

>> Neymar’s emotional message about Pele’s death: “He turned football into art. It’s eternal”

>> “O milésimo”, or the story of Pele’s 1000th goal