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The 12 Greatest Footballers to Never Win the Champions League

By YPB Team

The trophy that got away from some of the game's biggest names — World Cup winners, Ballon d'Or holders and record scorers who lit up every stage except the European final. Who tops the list of the unlucky greats? Cast your vote!

  1. Diego Maradona — ranked #11
    Diego Maradona
    Argentine icon who won the 1986 World Cup and league titles with Napoli but never the European Cup.
    1000pts
  2. Ronaldo Nazário — ranked #22
    Ronaldo Nazário
    Brazil's 'O Fenômeno', a two-time World Cup winner and Ballon d'Or great who never won Europe's top club prize.
    772pts
  3. Michael Owen — ranked #33
    Michael Owen
    A Ballon d'Or winner at 21 whose spells at Liverpool, Real Madrid and United never yielded the Champions League.
    463pts
  4. Zlatan Ibrahimović — ranked #44
    Zlatan Ibrahimović
    Prolific striker who won league titles in four countries yet famously never captured the Champions League.
    392pts
  5. Sergio Agüero — ranked #55
    Sergio Agüero
    Manchester City's record scorer who left the year before the club's first Champions League triumph.
    392pts
  6. Pavel Nedvěd — ranked #66
    Pavel Nedvěd
    Czech Ballon d'Or winner who was suspended for Juventus's 2003 final and never won the competition.
    392pts
  7. Harry Kane — ranked #77
    Harry Kane
    England's all-time top scorer, long chasing a first Champions League crown across Tottenham and Bayern.
    392pts
  8. Kylian Mbappé — ranked #88
    Kylian Mbappé
    France forward with two World Cup Golden Boots who, across years at PSG and Real Madrid, has never lifted the Champions League.
    392pts
  9. Gianluigi Buffon — ranked #99
    Gianluigi Buffon
    Legendary Italian goalkeeper and World Cup winner who lost three Champions League finals with Juventus.
    309pts
  10. Roberto Baggio — ranked #1010
    Roberto Baggio
    Italy's 'Divine Ponytail', a Ballon d'Or winner who never lifted the European Cup.
    211pts
  11. Antonio Di Natale — ranked #1111
    Antonio Di Natale
    Udinese's devoted goal machine, a cult Serie A great who never played in a Champions League final.
    211pts
  12. Francesco Totti — ranked #1212
    Francesco Totti
    Roma's one-club talisman and 2006 World Cup winner who never reached the summit of European club football.
    93pts

#football576#players565#champions league34

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Comments

Buffon, Ibrahimović, Totti and Baggio share this one with Maradona, whose deepest European run was a second-tier UEFA Cup in 1989: https://youpick.best/articles/pele-vs-maradona-ranked https://youpick.best/articles/kylian-mbappe-ranked-every-way

YP
ypb-team·Aug 21·
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