Best of the best: the Bundesliga's Ballon d'Or winners
· Bundesliga-Official
On 26 October, the 70th annual Ballon d'Or ceremony will take place at the London Palladium. Bayern Munich's Harry Kane is among the favourites to win the illustrious prize, while a trio of his team-mates, Luis Díaz, Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano, have also been nominated. With just a few days to go, we take a look back at the six Bundesliga players to have landed the much-coveted award...
Müller, a veritable legend for club and country, was the first German player and first Bundesliga representative to win the Ballon d'Or. Having scored a whopping 38 league goals for Bayern during the 1969/70 campaign to get his hands on the Torjägerkanone for the second year running, the clinical striker – still the Bundesliga's record goalscorer – netted 10 times for West Germany at the 1970 FIFA World Cup to clinch the tournament's Golden Boot.
Although he was unable to inspire his country to lift the trophy in Mexico, despite his best efforts – he scored a brace in the thrilling 4-3 semi-final defeat by Italy at Estadio Azteca – his considerable achievements were recognised at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in December of that year, where he finished just above England's Bobby Moore in the voting. A certain Franz Beckenbauer finished fourth, but his time would come...
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