I would not say he had a "failed" career, afterall even if he has lost finals. a failed career could be like giovani dos santos's so far but maybe not as extreme or maybe not even a failure at all, but yeah i remember dos santos being touted as the next "Ronaldinho". liked to manchester united moves and such and now he's sunken into the abyss. Ballacks been brillant in his club career, and hell even getting a team to the finals cannot be considered much of a failure also. But 1 FA cup maybe i think a german title or two a Premier League. Playing for Bayern Munich and Chelsea F.C, i'd not really call that much of a failure. minding MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of people. and many many thousand youth players have come to these clubs and probably "failed" in the youth or sorts. So in a way i'll call ballacks career a success. Hell Pavel Nedved has NEVER played in a champions league final (unfortunately) i am sure, not sure if he appeared in a Euro final. But he is still considered one of the games best ever players. i could be wrong though. Another big example pretty much. of his club not being champions league winners (though i dunno if he had a WC 2002 win with brazil) Juninho (dude who used to play for lyon). but people could still say those players careers were pretty successful. shit post is shit.