Late bloomers! After the age of 30, these three people successfully won the Ballon d Or! One person made football history!

With his outstanding performance last season, the 28-year-old Ousmane Dembele won the pinnacle honor of his career, which is the honor that all football players yearn for-the Golden Globe Award. At that time, Dembele was regarded as an unparalleled top talent. However, after joining Barcelona, ​​his performance has been tepid. Just when everyone thought that he would spend his playing days, he returned to Paris Saint-Germain and helped the team reach the top on all fronts. He handed over luxurious data of 32 goals and 13 assists in a single season. He is worthy of this Golden Globe Award.

However, at the age of 28, he has only won the first and possibly only Golden Globe Award in his career. In football history, he is already relatively "old". However, before Dembele, there were several players who had been waiting hard in their careers. They were either already famous or unknown, but they reached the peak of their careers again after the age of 30, and finally counterattacked and won the Ballon d'Or, completing the story of late bloomers. Let us take a look below to see which players have just won the first Golden Globe Award in their careers after reaching the age of 30.

Fabio Cannavaro

Award-winning age: 33 years old

First of all, let’s introduce Italy’s legendary defender Cannavaro. Although the Ballon d’Or judging mechanism has always emphasized that no matter what position the players are in, there will be a fair and impartial evaluation. But compared to midfielders and forwards, defenders have always been in a "blue-collar" role, so they are still relatively at a disadvantage in the competition for the Ballon d'Or. However, Cannavaro broke this point. As an epoch-making figure in Serie A and the Italian national team, Cannavaro, who was only 1.75 meters tall, stood out with his iron-blooded style and strong technical characteristics in that era of bright stars.

In the 05-06 season, the 33-year-old played for Juventus and helped the team win the league championship that season. Although the championship was deprived due to the "Calciopoli" incident, his performance was recognized by all fans. Of course, the most important thing is that his performance in this year's World Cup was extremely dazzling. It was the iron-blooded defense built with him as the core that became the key for the Italian team to win every team. In the end, he was not only awarded the Silver Ball of the tournament and selected to the best team, but he also successfully won the Golden Ball in the second half of the year. Since then, he has become the only player in football who can win the Ballon d'Or as a pure defender. To this day, no defender can match him in his position.

Luka Modric

Age of award: 33 years old

Maybe Modric is not the most shining star, but in his era, he is the midfield master that all teams hope to get. Even though he is now 40 years old and has come to AC Milan, which is no longer glorious, he can still help the team organize the rhythm and offense of the midfield with his excellent skills and rich experience. During his time at Real Madrid, he was the fans' favorite captain. In 2018, the 33-year-old Modric maintained a high level of performance in Real Madrid. Although he only played 34 games in total due to injuries, he contributed 1 goal and 6 assists, helping the team complete three consecutive Champions League titles.

Returning to the stage of the national team, he helped Croatia create history. During the summer in Russia, he was like a god of war, helping the national team defeat many strong enemies one after another. Although they unfortunately lost in the final against France, his top performance of contributing 4 goals and 1 assist in the entire tournament still allowed him to win the Golden Globe Award. With the dual honors of the club and the national team, he was also recognized by FIFA, and finally won the only Ballon d'Or in his career at the age of 33. Modric also broke the 10-year monopoly of Ronaldo and Messi on the Ballon d'Or, which is enough to prove the value of his Ballon d'Or.

Karim Benzema

Age of award: 34 years old

Finally, let’s talk about Benzema. When he debuted, Benzema was once regarded as the third person in the world after Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. However, after joining Real Madrid, he played more of Cristiano Ronaldo’s assistant in the frontcourt. Therefore, although his performance was not bad, he was far from the point of winning the Ballon d’Or. What is even more surprising is that because of the videotape incident in the national team, he was directly removed from the team by coach Deschamps, which made Benzema even more difficult.

However, under this situation, he completed a counterattack in the 21-22 season. The 34-year-old seemed to have returned to his youth this year. He scored 42 goals and provided 14 assists throughout the year, eventually helping Real Madrid win the Champions League again. In the domestic league, they also withstood the pressure and finally won the league championship this season. Therefore, after the end of the season, he successfully gained recognition from all media and review experts and won the Ballon d'Or and UEFA's Best Player Award. Since then, he has become the oldest player to win the Ballon d'Or for the first time in history.