The Ballon d'Or is almost upon us. Football is a team sport, but once a year the great and the good get to throw on their glad rags and make it all about themselves for an evening.
Since 1956, when England’s very own Stanley Matthews picked up the inaugural award – while turning out for Blackpool, obviously – the football world has gathered annually to celebrate the best player for that year. The trophy has been caught in a stranglehold between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for 15 years, with only Real Madrid duo Luka Modric and Karim Benzema able to get in there and split it up.
