Ballon d'Or Dream Team: The Complete Lineup and Players

The world’s best football player receives the highly coveted Ballon d’Or award every year from France Football magazine. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, which interrupted and postponed several championships, France Football compiled the Top 11 Ballon d’Or all-time list in 2020.

Not all of the eleven players won the prize, but they were nonetheless on the voters list (except Maradona and Pele, who, when they were footballers, could not be voted for, as they were South Americans). Let’s see in detail the dream formation of the Ballon d’Or dream team.

1. Goalkeeper: Lev Yashin

Yashin is the only goalkeeper who has won the Ballon d’Or award. He played for Dynamo Moscow and the Soviet national team, earning the nickname “the black spider” for his outstanding goalkeeping abilities.

2. Right back: Cafu

Cafu, a Brazilian fullback, captained the World Cup in 2002 and had previously won the World Cup in 1994. He also played for Rome and Milan, where he won numerous titles.

3. Central defender: Franz Beckenbauer

Beckenbauer, a former German national team player and coach, is remembered as one of the best free-throw shooters of all time. He won the 1974 World Cup with the German national team and three consecutive European Cups between 1974 and 1976 with Bayern.

4. Central Defense: Lothar Matthaeus

Matthaeus started his career as a full-field midfielder but was later converted to a central defender. He won the record Scudetto with Trapattoni’s Inter in the 1988–89 season and the 1990 World Cup with the German national team.

5. Left back: Paolo Maldini

Paolo Maldini, an Italian player, was the leader of Milan and the Italian national team. He played as a wing defender and center back and won numerous titles, including five European Cups with Milan.

6. Defensive midfielder: Xavi

Xavi was the initiator of the famous “tiki-taka” maneuver that Barcelona was known for. He helped Barcelona succeed and win the World Cup with the Spanish national team in 2010 and two consecutive European championships in 2008 and 2012.

7. Offensive midfielder: Pele

Pele was a Brazilian player and is widely considered one of the best footballers in history. He won three world titles with the Brazilian national team and played for Santos, where he became an absolute leader.

8. Offensive midfielder: Diego Armando Maradona

Maradona was an Argentine player who led his national team to victory in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He also won two league titles and the UEFA Cup with Napoli.

9. Right wing: Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is the only player to have won the Ballon d’Or award seven times. He was the leader of Barcelona, winning numerous titles with the club, and led Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

10. Center forward: Ronaldo

Called “Ronaldo the Phenomenon” to differentiate him from Cristiano Ronaldo, the Brazilian was the best player in the world in the late 1990s.

Conditioned then by injuries that affected his career, Ronaldo still won the World Cup in 2002 thanks to his brace in the final against Germany and was the absolute protagonist in the jerseys of Barcelona, Inter, and Real Madrid.

11. Left wing: Cristiano Ronaldo

Winner of 5 Golden Balls and always fighting with Messi for the title of best in the world.

CR7 has always been the protagonist in the shirts of Manchester United and Real Madrid, and in the three seasons, he played with Juve. He dragged his national team to a European triumph in 2006, and after the World Cup, he played as a protagonist in Qatar before leaving Europe to go and play in Saudi Arabia, where he continues to score goals.