Ballon d'Or winner has been decided by one point twice - including with Man Utd legend
dailystar.co.ukBallon d'Or, football's most prestigious individual award, by a single vote, with Eusebio getting pipped by Manchester United legend Bobby Charlton in 1966, and Ronaldo losing out to Germany midfielder Matthias Sammer in 1996.To be fair, in both cases there weren't all that many votes cast.
Back in the day, a carefully selected panel of sports journalists would decide the winner, meaning that players were often separated by small amount of votes, whereas nowadays nearly three thousand are handed out, with players and international coaches joining the party.READ MORE: 8 players who finished second in Ballon d'Or - but never won the coveted best player prizeCharlton was crowned world player of the year after inspiring England to victory at the 1966 World Cup, earning 81 votes to see off the challenge of Portugal superstar Eusebio, who earned just one vote less.Thirty years later, the award was decided by the same margin, with Sammer, who had led Germany to glory at Euro 96 that year, receiving 144 votes to pip Ronaldo on 143.Would you make any changes to Ballon d'Or voting system?
If so, let us know in the comments section below.By contrast, when Lionel Messi narrowly beat Virgil van Dijk to the award in 2019, he received a whopping 686 votes, with the Liverpool defender earning 679.There's no need to feel too sorry for Ronaldo or Eusebio though as both players ended up getting their hands on the big golden ball before retiring.
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