When the Klitschko’s were dominating the boxing heavyweight division for a decade or more, many said that this was because the division was weak and there where no other good boxers to challenge their dominance - unlike like the 80s and 90s when we had Tyson, Lennox, Bowe, Holyfield, Douglas etc.

Can the same logic then also be applied to Messi and Ronaldo winning Ballon d’Or year after year for the best decade or so? It’s not that they are so incredible, it’s because the competition for first place is so weak outside these two. The calibre of players in the 90s and 00s for example: Van Basten, Maradona, Baggio, Weah, R9, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Figo, Buffon, Rivaldo, Maldini, Viera, Totti, Khan, Carlos, Kaka, Henry, Shearer, Romario, Batistuta, Klinsmann, Matthaus, Cafu - I could go on and on, but I think that list already paints a picture.

So the question is, would Messi and Ronaldo have dominated any past generation, or do they exist in a time that we have a weak pool of potential winners - or maybe a bit of both?