Winning the Ballon d’Or is a universal dream amongst footballers as it’s one of sport’s most prestigious individual achievements.

Numerous legends of the game have lifted the iconic trophy except for Thierry Henry, who faced arguably one of the biggest snubs of all.

Henry was in sensational form for Arsenal in 2004Getty

He was part of the squad that won the Premier League without losing a gameGetty

Since it was first introduced in 1956, the Ballon d’Or has mostly been awarded to the player for the best achievements in the calendar year.

This was changed in 2022 to take the previous season into account instead but the preceding years saw voters follow the former rules.

Henry was named as one of the 50 nominees for the award in 2004 when the striker then playing for Arsenal and France.

During that calendar year, he scored an incredible 46 goals and added a further 16 assists across all competitions for club and country.

He was crucial to Arsenal’s Premier League Invincible title success during that time and therefore a favourite to win the Ballon d’Or.

However, he finished fourth behind the winner Andriy Shevchenko, second-placed Deco and third-placed Ronaldinho.

Ukrainian Shevchenko was Serie A’s top scorer with 24 goals in the 2003/04 campaign at AC Milan, with whom he won the Italian league title.

Deco won the Portuguese title and Champions League with Porto, with Ronaldinho reaching 28 goal contributions for Barcelona.

Henry fell short of the three and had in fact missed out on the Ballon d’Or for a second consecutive year.

Pavel Nedved was crowned winner in 2003 thanks to his Serie A and Supercoppa Italiana success at Juventus.

Frenchman Henry was tipped for Ballon d’Or glory, but it wasn’t to beGetty

AC Milan’s Shevchenko was the 2004 championGetty

Juventus star Nedved won it the year prior but seemed surprised Henry didn’t winAFP

The Czech Republic icon finished ahead of the second-placed Henry but was left shocked that he claimed victory over the Frenchman.

“For me, Thierry Henry is the best forward in the world now,” he said when he collected his award as per The Athletic. “I am very happy.

“I did not think I would beat Thierry Henry, Paolo Maldini or Zinedine Zidane and if I had voted, I would have voted for Thierry and for the other players on the podium.”

Henry was nominated for the Ballon d’Or nine times throughout his career but was unable to get his hands on the trophy.

The 2024 winner will be announced on Monday night, with Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr the reported frontrunner for the title.