It was December in Paris. The Théâtre du Châtelet was packed with the usual suspects—men in sharp tuxedos, flashing cameras, and that specific brand of tension you only get when two titans are separated by a handful of votes. Most people remember the Ballon d’Or 2019 as the year Lionel Messi finally broke the deadlock with Cristiano Ronaldo to claim his sixth trophy. But honestly? That’s only half the story.
The real drama wasn't just about Messi winning. It was about how incredibly close Virgil van Dijk came to doing the impossible.
We don't see defenders win this thing. Since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006, the award has basically been a private club for forwards who put up video-game numbers. In 2019, Van Dijk wasn't just playing defense; he was presiding over it. He was the calm center of a Liverpool storm that had just swallowed the Champions League whole. When the final tallies were leaked, the gap was terrifyingly thin. Messi finished with 686 points. Van Dijk had 679.
Seven points.
In a global voting pool of over 170 journalists, a couple of people changing their minds at the last second would have altered football history. If you've ever wondered why Liverpool fans still bring this up in debates, that's why. It wasn't a landslide. It was a photo finish.
Why the Ballon d’Or 2019 felt different
By the time the ceremony rolled around, the narrative was split right down the middle. On one side, you had the statistical anomaly of Lionel Messi. People like to claim he had a "down" year because Barcelona collapsed against Liverpool at Anfield, but his individual numbers were actually absurd. He scored 51 goals in 50 games. He dragged a mediocre Barça side to a La Liga title through sheer force of will.
Then you had Virgil.
He was the Premier League Player of the Season. He hadn't been dribbled past by a single opponent in 65 consecutive games for Liverpool. Think about that for a second. In an era of Mbappe, Sterling, and Hazard, nobody could get around him. He turned a leaky Liverpool defense into the best unit in the world.
The debate basically became a philosophical question: Do you reward the guy who creates the most magic, or the guy who prevents the most?
Historically, the Ballon d’Or favors the magicians. It’s a highlight-reel award. Even so, the 2019 race forced everyone to look at the game differently. Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were also in the mix, finishing fourth and fifth respectively, which arguably split the "Liverpool vote." If the Reds hadn't been so dominant as a collective, perhaps Van Dijk would have had enough concentrated support to leapfrog Messi.
The voting breakdown that shocked the room
When you look at the regional voting, things get even weirder. Van Dijk actually won the vote in Europe and Asia. Journalists in the footballing heartlands saw his defensive masterclass and thought, "Yeah, that's the best player in the world."
However, Messi swept South America, Africa, North America, and Oceania.
It’s kind of fascinating how geography dictates what we value in a player. In Europe, the tactical discipline of a center-back was enough to warrant the top prize. Elsewhere, the sheer individual brilliance of Messi's left foot remained undefeated. Cristiano Ronaldo, for his part, skipped the ceremony. He finished third, marking the first time since 2011 he wasn't in the top two. He was busy picking up the Serie A Player of the Year award in Milan on the same night.
The "Anfield Factor" and the irony of the result
There is a massive irony sitting at the heart of the Ballon d’Or 2019. The defining game of that season was Liverpool’s 4-0 demolition of Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final.
Van Dijk won the battle. Messi lost the war.
Usually, the winner of the biggest head-to-head match of the season takes the trophy. That's the unwritten rule. But Messi's performance in the first leg—that 30-yard free kick that defied physics—stayed in the voters' minds. It was a year where the individual was weighed against the system. Barcelona was a mess, yet Messi was a god. Liverpool was a machine, and Van Dijk was its most important gear.
Megan Rapinoe also took home the Ballon d’Or Féminin that night, which was much less of a surprise. She had just dominated the World Cup, both on and off the pitch. Her win felt like a coronation. The Men’s side, though? It felt like a debate that would never truly end.
Was it a "robbery"?
The word "robbery" gets thrown around every time a fan's favorite player doesn't win. Was Van Dijk robbed? Probably not. You can't really call it a robbery when the guy who wins scores 50+ goals and carries his team's entire offensive output.
But it was a missed opportunity.
It was an opportunity for the football world to say that stopping goals is just as valuable as scoring them. We rarely see a defender with that much gravity again. Since 2019, the award has swung back toward the usual attacking suspects—Benzema, Messi again, and the new era of Haaland and Vinicius Jr.
Van Dijk’s 2019 season remains the high-water mark for modern defending. He didn't just play well; he intimidated world-class strikers before they even stepped into the tunnel.
What we can learn from the 2019 rankings
If you look back at the top ten from that year, it’s a time capsule of a shifting era.
Alisson Becker finished 7th and won the inaugural Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper. It was a massive night for Liverpool, even without the big prize. Kylian Mbappe was lurking in 6th, and Robert Lewandowski was just starting the insane scoring run that would have likely won him the 2020 award (if it hadn't been cancelled).
The 2019 results showed that the "Messi-Ronaldo" era was fraying at the edges, even if Messi was still standing at the top of the mountain. It proved that to beat Messi, you didn't just need to be perfect; you needed to be historic. Van Dijk was historic, and he still fell seven points short.
Actionable insights for football historians and fans
If you're settling a debate at a bar or just looking back at the stats, keep these specific points in mind:
- Check the regional split: Remember that Van Dijk won the European vote. If only European journalists voted (as was the case decades ago), he would have won the Ballon d'Or.
- Contextualize the "Six": This was the year Messi broke the tie with Ronaldo. That narrative played a huge role in the media coverage leading up to the event.
- The Alisson Factor: Alisson winning the Yashin Trophy likely siphoned off some of the "defensive" credit that might have otherwise gone solely to Van Dijk.
- Goal involvements vs. Clean sheets: In 2019, Messi had 63 goal involvements in the calendar year. That is almost impossible to vote against, regardless of how good a defender is.
The Ballon d’Or 2019 wasn't just another trophy for Messi’s cabinet. It was the last time the old guard was truly, desperately challenged by a completely different style of footballer. It confirmed that while trophies are won by teams, the Ballon d'Or is almost always a tribute to the individual artist. Whether that's fair to the "workhorses" of the pitch is a question we're still asking today.
To truly understand the 2019 result, you have to look past the trophy and at the points. That seven-point margin is the closest the award has been in years, and it remains the ultimate "what if" of Virgil van Dijk’s career.