Rivaldo

Rivaldo's 1999 Ballon d'Or was earned across two continents: a double with Barcelona (league and cup, both with him as the axis) and, in November, the most dramatic single performance in the award's modern history — Brazil needing to beat Venezuela to qualify directly for a World Cup they had never missed, 0-0 deep into stoppage time, and Rivaldo scoring from an overhead kick with the last kick of the game. A nation's four-year panic ended in one biomechanical impossibility.

The 2002 World Cup followed its script's logic: a front three of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, Brazil's fifth title, Rivaldo scoring in every knockout round. His game was asymmetry perfected — the left foot's curl and the right foot's absence, a forward who drifted left to be unmarkable and arrived at the box with the timing of a bailiff. Of the award's Brazilians he is the least discussed and the least dispensable.