Michael Owen has incredibly admitted he had NO IDEA what the Ballon d’Or was when he won it in 2001!

Michael Owen has incredibly admitted he had NO IDEA what the Ballon d’Or was when he won it in 2001!

“When Gerard Houllier phoned me and said ‘You’ve won the Ballon d’Or’, I’m like ‘What’s that gaffer’?

“I didn’t know what the award was. I never did because I never even knew what it was. Back in those days it was never in the British press.

“When I played for Real Madrid, it’s like an MBE, it follows you. Whenever they mention your name it’s Ballon d’Or winner.

“Abroad it is so big and it’s only just cottoned on here for the last five or ten years. It’s so much bigger in other countries, in foreign countries. It quickly sunk in how big it was.”