Every Ballon d’Or cycle revives the same claim: Thierry Henry was robbed in 2003. The ceremony this week at the London Palladium, where Harry Kane became the first Englishman to lift the trophy since Michael Owen in 2001, has done it again.

The man who actually won it has, as usual, barely been mentioned.

Pavel Nedved took the 2003 Ballon d’Or by a wide margin. He received 190 points to Henry’s 128, with Paolo Maldini third on 123. Twenty-seven voters put the Juventus midfielder first on their ballot. On the voting arithmetic, it was not even close.

Nedved’s case was never thin

The idea that Henry’s goals and assists for Arsenal in 2002-03 made him the obvious winner tends to arrive with the opposition airbrushed out. Nedved’s own season was built on the two stages the Ballon d’Or jury tends to weigh most heavily: a league title and a run to the Champions League final.

Read also: Bayern Munich set for biggest away fan invasion at Allianz Arena in nine years

He scored 14 goals in 45 matches, helped Juventus win the Scudetto by seven points over Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan, and produced a decisive performance in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid, providing an assist and scoring the third in a 3-1 win. A yellow card in that match ruled him out of the final in Manchester, which Juventus lost on penalties to Milan.

Henry’s statistical campaign for Arsenal was outstanding. Nedved’s was decisive on nights the whole continent watched.

Henry has never claimed he was robbed

The player at the centre of the myth has, when asked, refused to carry it. Speaking on CBS Sports’ Champions League coverage in 2023 when Micah Richards raised the subject, Henry declined to argue the case.

“You can’t debate opinions. When journalists are involved in votes, they vote whatever they want,” he said, in comments reported by Inside World Soccer.

Read also: Kane 47 goals from Shearer: ‘I’m loving life in Munich’

Nedved himself, on the night of the ceremony in Paris, called Henry the best forward in the world.

Kane joins Owen on the English list

Kane’s 2025-26 season for Bayern Munich was the sort that leaves little room for a counter-case: 73 goals for club and country, 36 in the Bundesliga, 14 in the Champions League and six at the 2026 World Cup, capped by a hat-trick in the DFB Cup final. He finished ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal in the vote announced in London on Monday.

“I am almost speechless,” Kane told the audience at the Palladium.

“Being here in London has made it extra special.”

Read also: Jamie Carragher makes controversial Mikel Arteta claim that Arsenal fans won’t like

On the same evening, Yamal was named Men’s Young Talent of the Year, Unai Simón took Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year, Luis de la Fuente was named Men’s Coach of the Year and Paris Saint-Germain received the Men’s Club of the Year award.

Read also: ‘Pedri was absolutely dreadful’: Van der Vaart’s Clasico verdict