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#3 Chelsea
Chelsea are yet another club that rose to prominence in European football in the early 21st century. Not to say that they were a considerably lesser club before that but they started attracting some of the best talents in the world since the turn of the millennium.
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The Blues, bankrolled by Roman Abramovich, have become one of the strongest sides in Europe. In fact, they are the reigning champions of Europe right now. However, Chelsea haven't had a Ballon d'Or winner in 116 years of their existence.
The closest they've come is with Frank Lampard. The English midfielder came second in the 2005 Ballon d'Or race. Lampard scored 19 goals and provided 21 assists in 58 matches across all competitions for Chelsea in the 2004-05 season.
He also won the Premier League title and the League Cup that year but lost out to Ronaldinho in the Ballon d'Or race.
#2 Atletico Madrid
Barcelona and Real Madrid have been the two most dominant forces in La Liga throughout the history of its existence. Atletico Madrid have tried their best to break their duopoly and have been successful intermittently.
Atletico Madrid are the third most successful La Liga side with 11 league titles. They've also finished second 10 times in La Liga. However, no Atletico Madrid player has ever won the Ballon d'Or in the history of the award.
Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre came close in 1987 but lost out to Ruud Gullit and finished second. Antoine Griezmann has made the podium on two occasions. The Frenchman finished third in the Ballon d'Or race in 2016 and 2018.
#1 Arsenal
Arsenal are one of the most decorated clubs in Europe. They have 13 English league titles and 14 FA Cups and are one of the so-called Premier League giants. The Gunners were flying towards the end of the 20th century and in the first half of the first decade of the 21st.
They have had several world-class players on their payroll over the ages. But none of them have ever won the Ballon d'Or. Thierry Henry came real close twice though. The Frenchman is arguably the greatest striker in the history of the Premier League.
He finished second in the Ballon d'Or race in 2003. In fact, there is a strong argument that the 2003 Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedved didn't deserve to win it ahead of Henry who was phenomenal that year. Henry came close in 2006 as well but finished third in the Ballon d'Or race behind Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon.
