Worst drop off performance wise after a ballon d'or win

Red the Bear

Something less generic
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Aug 26, 2021
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So I figured I'll start my first thread with a fun side discussion.

anyway there has been a lot off talk about messi's dreadful form after just being chosen as the world's best player a few months back. And looking at the historical precedence for this I'll remembered both kaka and Canavero going down a clif after their respective triumphs so who is your choice Cafe.( for sake of clarity im lumping both the France football version starting in 56 and fifa one from 2010 to 15)

Bonus round: obviously non European players were not eligible for some time so you could also cite a drop off from a player who you considered as the best that year but whom wasn't eligible at the time , for example the great zico who was hit with several injuries after a great season.
 
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Rivaldo springs to mind. Best player on the planet in 1999, naff afterwards and wasn’t long before he was farmed out to Milan.
 
2 man midfield said:
Rivaldo springs to mind. Best player on the planet in 1999, naff afterwards and wasn’t long before he was farmed out to Milan.
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He wouldn't bow to LVG wanting him to play out of position. LVG didn't like it and he didn't play well for that season, LVG got sacked. The following 2 years he was still probably Barca's best player. He then went to Milan and won the CL in his first season.

It was after that he really went downhill and he embarked on his journeyman ways.
 
2 man midfield said:
Rivaldo springs to mind. Best player on the planet in 1999, naff afterwards and wasn’t long before he was farmed out to Milan.
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Great call, though he did have that amazing 2001 season and played a pivotal roll in a world cup win but it seems injuries ruined him( I'll also argue he didn't deserve it in the first place but well that's another discussion).
 
2 man midfield said:
Rivaldo springs to mind. Best player on the planet in 1999, naff afterwards and wasn’t long before he was farmed out to Milan.
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He was arguably the best player of the 2002 World Cup (certainly up there alongside Kahn & Ronaldo) and he also had his most prolific season in 00/01 (36 goals in all competitions), so I wouldn't say that his decline was immediate. He's had 4 or 5 world class seasons with his Ballon d'Or-winning one being somewhere in the middle of that peak.
 
Pexbo said:
Nah, he was shit last year too.
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He was great last year, just not Ballon d'Or great or peak Messi great — yet he was still easily one of the top-5 players in the world, carrying Barcelona on his shoulders & producing a fantastic performance at Copa. This season though, a couple of CL games aside :nervous:
 
In addition to those named, I would say Stoichkov.
He won in 1994, in 94-95 Valdano's Madrid won la liga and I think he was already in decline. I don't remember anything spectacular in his year at Parma or on his return to Barcelona. I would swear he had injury problems during that time but I don't remember too well
 
I know there was a short gap between his BdO win and transfer but I was amazed how average Shevchencko was when he came to Chelsea
 
carvajal said:
In addition to those named, I would say Stoichkov.
He won in 1994, in 94-95 Valdano's Madrid won la liga and I think he was already in decline. I don't remember anything spectacular in his year at Parma or on his return to Barcelona. I would swear he had injury problems during that time but I don't remember too well
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Nice candidate but I feel his decline was already underway when he won it, that world cup performance just managed to hide it.
 
Oranges038 said:
He wouldn't bow to LVG wanting him to play out of position. LVG didn't like it and he didn't play well for that season, LVG got sacked. The following 2 years he was still probably Barca's best player. He then went to Milan and won the CL in his first season.

It was after that he really went downhill and he embarked on his journeyman ways.
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That’s because Rivaldo was a difficult personality.
 
MiceOnMeth said:
Even earlier. He was shite in the 2006 world Cup.
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This. Also in the champions league final he wasn't anything special. 2004-2005 was peak Ronaldinho and after that he had a massive drop off.
 
Not sure about drop off but didn't Paolo Rossi not win it because of his WC antics and was pretty underwhelming in the years either side of it in club football?
 
Rivaldo 1999 and Messi 2021 jump to mind but both didn't really deserve their Ballon d'Ors in the first place.

From a very much deserving Ballon d'Or and then turning to shit I'd say Kaka's a good call. Out of this world in 2007 and never showed up again after 2009.
 
Dave Smith said:
Not sure about drop off but didn't Paolo Rossi not win it because of his WC antics and was pretty underwhelming in the years either side of it in club football?
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Hard to say because even though his stats are nothing to write home about as a striker he did play a main role in a very illustrious and decorated part of juve's history so I don't know how much of the underwhelming goal scoring can be attributed to serie a being a bit higher to score in, your absolutely correct though he'd only won it for that epic wc performance, to add some context he was out of the game for a season or two due to being indicated in a betting scandal.
 
Nicolarra90 said:
:lol: :lol:

That phrase is a redcafe meme
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RIVALDO WAS A GREAT PLAYER BUT A DIFFICULT PERSONALITY
HE CLASHED WITH LVG BECAUSE HE WAS SHIFTED TO THE WING EVENTHOUGH HE WON BALLON DO'R IN THAT POSITION
TOUGH PERSONALITY ? HE STILL WON PLENTY CLUB AND NATIONLEVEL
NATION
NATION
NATION LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVEL

(Might as well post the full thing)
 
Minkaro said:
RIVALDO WAS A GREAT PLAYER BUT A DIFFICULT PERSONALITY
HE CLASHED WITH LVG BECAUSE HE WAS SHIFTED TO THE WING EVENTHOUGH HE WON BALLON DO'R IN THAT POSITION
TOUGH PERSONALITY ? HE STILL WON PLENTY CLUB AND NATIONLEVEL
NATION
NATION
NATION LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVEL

(Might as well post the full thing)
Click to expand...
SORRY IT WAS THE PHONE
 
harms said:
He was arguably the best player of the 2002 World Cup (certainly up there alongside Kahn & Ronaldo) and he also had his most prolific season in 00/01 (36 goals in all competitions), so I wouldn't say that his decline was immediate. He's had 4 or 5 world class seasons with his Ballon d'Or-winning one being somewhere in the middle of that peak.
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Yeah. His level didn’t drop until 2003. Which was 4 years after his Ballon. If Barcelona weren’t such a basket case at the time he would’ve pushed for a second Ballon in 2001 and 2002.

Agree with @Red the Bear that Cannavaro went downhill quite sharply straight after the World Cup and never really hit those 2004-2006 heights again.

As others have said Ronaldinho was pretty much done 6 months after winning the 2005 Ballon. The last time he looked like best-in-the-world material would have been around April/May 2006.
 
2 man midfield said:
Rivaldo springs to mind. Best player on the planet in 1999, naff afterwards and wasn’t long before he was farmed out to Milan.
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He was still really good till 2002-03. Problem with that barca team was he had to carry them almost every match.



This was still Rivaldo at his peak toying with Liverpool players
 
Ronaldinho without a doubt for me. It wasn't even injuries like Kaka', just a lack of professionalism that's finally caught up to him.
 
Not in the running for worst drop off in performance but Ronaldo's 08/09 was relatively muted. Blame it on injury, having head turned by Madrid... He was getting a lot of flack from supporters midway through the season. The 2-2 home game against Porto comes to mind.
 
Ronaldinho in 2006 and it is not even close. I clearly remember media hyping up that Villareal bicycle kick goal, which was in November that year, as him being back to his best. The truth is that he was clearly the best player in the world in 2005 and first half of 2006 and never again came close to the same level after that.
 
Those saying Owen forget that he wasn't much to write home about in the first place, one of the more undeserving ballon'dor winners in my mind and his level didn't completely drop off till after the galactico transfer.
 
Red the Bear said:
Those saying Owen forget that he wasn't much to write home about in the first place, one of the more undeserving ballon'dor winners in my mind and his level didn't completely drop off till after the galactico transfer.
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Never thought he was the best player in European football but he was a great talent pre hamstring injury, certainly worth writing home about imo.
 
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