Ronaldo De Lima won the 1997 Ballon d'Or before Brazil lost 0-3 to France in the 1998 World Cup final. Photo: Inter

The list of players affected by this curse includes Alfredo Di Stefano (Spain, 1957), Omar Sivori (Italy, 1961), Eusebio (Portugal, 1965), Gianni Rivera (Italy, 1969), Johan Cruyff (Netherlands, 1973), Allan Simonsen (Denmark, 1977), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany, 1981), Michel Platini (France, 1985), Marco Van Basten (Netherlands, 1989), Roberto Baggio (Italy, 1993), Ronaldo De Lima (Brazil, 1997), Michael Owen (England, 2001), Ronaldinho (Brazil, 2005), Lionel Messi (Argentina, 2009), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 2013, 2017), and Karim Benzema (France, 2022).

Messi won the Ballon d'Or in 2021. However, because the 2022 award was presented before the World Cup that year, the curse fell upon Benzema, according to Spanish newspaper AS.

Recent Ballon d'Or winners have also fallen victim to another issue: injuries. In 2022, shortly after receiving the prestigious award, Benzema had to withdraw from the World Cup due to a thigh injury. Last year, before and after winning the Ballon d'Or, midfielder Rodri was sidelined for almost a year due to an anterior cruciate ligament tear.

This year, France Football will award the 2025 Ballon d'Or on 22/9. Bookmakers currently favor Ousmane Dembele, with odds of 9/2. Lamine Yamal is second, but significantly behind at 2/11.

Last season, Dembele scored 35 goals and provided 16 assists, helping PSG win the Champions League, Ligue 1, the French Cup, and the French Super Cup. His standing dipped slightly after France lost 4-5 to Spain in the Nations League semi-final, but rebounded as he helped PSG reach the Club World Cup final.

Recently, the French forward suffered a hamstring injury, sidelining him for at least six weeks and likely causing him to miss three Champions League group stage matches.

Thanh Quy (according to AS)