In the glittering annals of football's most coveted individual prize, the Ballon d'Or stands as a beacon of excellence, a golden orb that crowns the world's supreme talent for an entire calendar year. Since its inception in 1956 by France Football, it has immortalized legends like Pelé, Maradona, Zidane, and more recently, the indomitable duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who between them hoarded 13 of the last 15 awards leading up to 2018. But amid this parade of brilliance, one name echoes with a haunting "what if?": Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. The Brazilian wizard, whose flair could light up the Camp Nou like a samba carnival, came tantalizingly close to etching his name on that pedestal in both 2016 and 2017 – finishing a mere third on both occasions. Yet, victory slipped through his fingers like sand on Copacabana beach. What was the elusive factor that barred Neymar from Ballon d'Or glory during those pivotal years? It wasn't a lack of skill – far from it. Neymar's 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns were symphonies of sorcery, blending audacious dribbles, pinpoint assists, and predatory goals. No, the culprit was far more insidious: **the impenetrable shadow cast by his eternal rivals, Messi and Ronaldo, amplified by a toxic cocktail of team dynamics, transfer drama, and the unforgiving optics of individual stardom in a team sport.** This isn't mere hindsight; it's a narrative woven from the threads of statistical dominance, insider revelations, and the cold calculus of voter psychology. As Neymar himself reflected in a candid 2025 interview, "I was in a position to win the Ballon d’Or at PSG, but injuries made it difficult... God didn’t want it, that’s fine." But rewind to 2016 and 2017, and the story sharpens into a tale of near-misses that still stings the hearts of football purists. ### The Prodigy's Rise: From Santos to Barcelona's Golden Trio To understand the heartbreak, we must trace Neymar's ascent. Born in 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil, the young Neymar exploded onto the global stage at Santos FC, where he claimed the 2011 Copa Libertadores and drew comparisons to a prime Ronaldinho. His €57 million move to Barcelona in 2013 wasn't just a transfer; it was a coronation. Paired with Messi and Luis Suárez in the fabled MSN trident, Neymar helped forge one of the most lethal attacks in history. Between 2013 and 2017, Barcelona racked up two La Liga titles, three Copas del Rey, and – crucially – the 2015 UEFA Champions League. Neymar's contributions were electric. In the 2014-15 season alone, he notched 39 goals and 11 assists across all competitions, including a semifinal hat-trick against Bayern Munich that propelled Barça to the final. Yet, even as whispers of Ballon d'Or contention grew, the award's gravitational pull toward Messi was inescapable. "Neymar was not running the show in Barça," one analyst noted bluntly. The Argentine maestro, already a four-time winner by 2015, commanded the narrative – and the votes. ### 2016: A Treble's Afterglow, But Messi's Eclipse The 2015-16 season – the calendar year feeding into the 2016 Ballon d'Or – was Neymar's zenith at Barcelona. With Messi sidelined for chunks of the campaign due to injury, Neymar shouldered the load like Atlas with a football. He tallied 31 goals and 27 assists in 49 appearances, a haul that included a stunning solo goal against Villarreal in La Liga and a brace in the Copa del Rey final. Barcelona clinched La Liga and the Copa del Rey, while in the Champions League, Neymar's magic nearly salvaged another deep run; he scored four in the quarterfinals against Atlético Madrid, only for Luis Enrique's side to bow out on penalties. By any metric, this was Ballon d'Or-caliber form. Journalists clamored: "Neymar deserved to win," one proclaimed, citing his irreplaceable role during Messi's absences. Yet, when the votes were tallied in January 2017, Neymar slotted into third place, behind Messi (second) and Ronaldo (winner). Cristiano's Real Madrid had stormed to La Liga glory and a Champions League final berth, but more damningly, Messi's aura – fresh off a treble the prior year – proved unassailable. As former Ballon d'Or winner Kaká later opined, "When Barca won the Treble in 14/15, Messi stood out as their talisman." In 2016, that talisman glow lingered, dimming Neymar's spotlight. The deeper factor? Perception. Voters – a cadre of international journalists – favor the "main man," the protagonist who authors epics. At Barcelona, Messi was the eternal scribe; Neymar, for all his brilliance, was the dazzling sidekick. "He has not been better than Messi and Cristiano," a Quora dissection laid bare. Ronaldo's 55 goals that year, including Champions League heroics, sealed his fifth Ballon d'Or. Neymar's tragedy was temporal: born into the Messi-Ronaldo stranglehold, where the duo's combined 11 wins from 2008-2017 left scant oxygen for interlopers. ### 2017: The PSG Gamble – Liberation or Self-Sabotage? If 2016 was a case of overshadowed symbiosis, 2017 was Neymar's bold bid for emancipation. The calendar year spanned the tail end of his Barcelona tenure and the fireworks of his PSG arrival. In the first half, Neymar dazzled: 20 goals and 25 assists by summer, including a semifinal masterclass in the 2017 Copa del Rey. But the seismic shift came on August 3, 2017, when PSG activated his €222 million release clause – the most expensive transfer in history. "Neymar wanted to join PSG... to step out of Messi’s shadow," reports confirmed, eyeing Ballon d'Or contention. The move was audacious. At 25, Neymar envisioned himself as PSG's undisputed king, unburdened by Messi's gravitational pull. His debut season justified the hype: 19 goals and 13 assists in Ligue 1, plus a Champions League campaign where he dismantled Bayern Munich (two goals, two assists in the round of 16). Brazil's march to the 2018 World Cup qualifiers added luster, with Neymar scoring seven in 10 games. By December 2017, he was third in the Ballon d'Or rankings – again – behind Messi (second) and Ronaldo (winner). What derailed him? The transfer itself became a double-edged sword. The summer saga – lawsuits, fan backlash at Barcelona, and whispers of "disloyalty" – tainted his narrative. Gerard Piqué, his ex-teammate, later lamented: "I tried to convince him not to make the move... that stopped the Brazilian from winning the Ballon d’Or." Voters questioned his commitment; PSG's domestic dominance felt hollow without Champions League silverware. Ronaldo, meanwhile, led Real Madrid to back-to-back La Decimas, scoring 44 goals. Messi's 54-goal haul at Barcelona kept the Catalan faithful loyal in the polls. Moreover, Neymar's flair – those no-look passes and elastico dribbles – sometimes veered into showmanship, alienating purists who prized Ronaldo's machine-like efficiency. "The Ballon d’Or rewards athletes not players," a Tifo Football analysis quipped, positioning Neymar as the artist in a league of engineers. Ander Herrera, his PSG midfield maestro, summed it up: "The reason Neymar does not have a career Ballon d’Or win is due to the Brazilian being in the same era as both Messi and Ronaldo." ### The Anatomy of Near-Misses: Stats, Shadows, and What-Ifs Delve deeper, and the numbers paint a portrait of cruel proximity. In 2016, Neymar's 68 goal involvements outpaced Messi's 59 (pre-injury), yet Messi's "brand" – the treble halo from 2015 – swayed 36.2% of first-place votes to Ronaldo and 26.3% to Messi, leaving Neymar with scraps. By 2017, his PSG explosion yielded 53 involvements, but Ronaldo's 61 (including 12 in the Champions League) and Messi's 65 proved insurmountable. Insiders pile on the regrets. Gianluigi Buffon, the legendary goalkeeper, thundered in 2024: "It's a scandal Neymar hasn't won the Ballon d'Or... He should have won five." Kaká echoed: Without a Champions League as "the main man," Neymar was doomed. Even Neymar, in 2025, conceded the PSG era's promise undone by later injuries – a fractured metatarsal in 2018, an ankle twist in 2019 – but for 2017, the die was cast by the transfer's optics. Critics counter: Was it truly one factor, or a confluence? Injuries loomed larger post-2017, but in these years, it was the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly – 95% of votes locked between them – that suffocated contention. As Wikipedia's exhaustive chronicle notes, "Neymar’s zero Ballon d’Or wins is often attributed to... the peak of the Messi and Ronaldo dominance." ### Legacy in the Long Shadow: Neymar's Enduring Enigma Today, at 33, Neymar plies his trade back at Santos, a prodigal son chasing ghosts of glory. His trophy cabinet brims – two La Ligas, five Ligue 1 titles, a Champions League – but the Ballon d'Or void aches. "If he had stayed at Barca... he would have been close," Piqué mused. Yet, in leaving, he liberated himself from Messi's orbit, only to crash against Ronaldo's meteor. The factor? Ultimately, **the Messi-Ronaldo eclipse** – a generational curse where two GOATs monopolized the summit, rendering Neymar's brilliance a brilliant footnote. As Buffon declared, Neymar was "the best player in the world between Aug and Dec 2015," yet the award eluded him. In a parallel universe, sans the duo, Neymar claims three or four. But in ours, he's the eternal bridesmaid, a reminder that football's cruelest cuts come not from defeat, but from proximity to triumph. As the 2025 Ballon d'Or looms – with Vinícius Júnior as Brazil's new torchbearer – Neymar's story endures as a cautionary samba: Talent alone doesn't crown kings; timing, narrative, and rivals do. O Joga Bonito may never lift the globe, but it forever dazzles under its shadow.
