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#5 Gianluigi Buffon
The Ballon d'Or has always been a tad biased towards attacking players, but even defenders have had significantly better luck in the awards than goalkeepers. To date, the only goalkeeper to have ever won the prize is Russian shot-stopper Lev Yashin, who took home the prize in 1963.
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However, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has repeatedly come close to winning the Ballon d'Or in recent years, coming 2nd in 2006.
Buffon has been immensely successful at the domestic level with Juventus, winning 10 Serie A titles with the club. He has also won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 and finished as runners-up in the 2012 European Championship.
Buffon has been decorated with a multitude of personal honours for his goalkeeping abilities, winning the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year trophy a jaw-dropping 12 times.
