Real Madrid lose their Ballon d'Or status Real Madrid First time since 2000 they have no winner in their squad

Due to Cristiano Ronaldo's departure, Real Madrid are to enter the new season witout a Ballon d'Or winner amongst their ranks for the first time in almost 20 years.

Going all the way back to the 2000/01, Los Blancos were at the start of their Galacticos era which saw a number of players competing for the gong signed by the club, Luis Figo being the first.

Costing 61 million euros, the Portuguese star arrived in the summer of 2000 and won the subsequent award in the January of 2001 before being paired with 1998 Ballon d'Or winner Zinedine Zidane the following summer.

Over the following years, Ronaldo Nazario arrived off the back of his 2002 win and 2001 victor Michael Owen soon joined the club.

As those stars left, 2006 saw Madrid snap up World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro for just 7m euros off the back of Juventus' match-fixing scandal imposed relegation.

It was the same year the defender lifted the Ballon d'Or and he remained the club's sole representative until the summer of 2009 and Florentino Perez's return to the presidency, heralding the arrival of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The pair were already winners of the individual award and Ronaldo would go on to lift it four more times thanks to his form with Real and Portugal.

Now, Los Blancos enter the 2018/19 campaign without a Ballon d'Or winner in their midsts.

Certainly, Luka Modric or Raphael Varane can be considered in with a shout, but the most open race in years makes predicting a winner a fool's game.