Ballon D’Or Winners
The Ballon D’Or award is the most prestigious award in football history, presented annually to the most outstanding player in all competitions across the registered football Confederation. The award has been presented annually by the French News magazine “French Football” since 1956.
They later agreed to join FIFA to host the award jointly as the FIFA Ballon d’or between 2010 and 2015. It didn’t last for long due to internal issues among the board, which led to the split of the two awards in 2016 back to the French Ballon D’Or and The Best FIFA Player award.
The award is seen as the pinnacle of all other football awards across the globe, it started off in 1957 by Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, two sports writers as a way of celebrating the most outstanding player in each calendar season. Since its inauguration in 1956 till date it has always led as the top football award through voting by journalists around the world, despite its many controversies.
Stanley Matthew was the first player to win the award in its inaugural ceremony in 1956 and the jewel Lionel Messi has won the award the most, a total of 7 times between the 12 years he and his rival Cristiano Ronaldo dominated the football world as the two greatest players of all times. Here is a full list of all the Ballon D’Or winners from 1956 to the present.
Stanley Matthews
Year: 1956
Club: Blackpool
Position: Forward
Nationality: English 🇬🇧
Alfredo Di Stefano
Year: 1957
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Spanish 🇪🇸
Raymond Kopa
Year: 1958
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: French 🇫🇷
Alfredo Di Stefano
Year: 1959
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Spanish 🇪🇸
Luis Suarez
Year: 1960
Club: Barcelona
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Spanish 🇪🇸
Omar Sivori
Year: 1961
Club: Juventus
Position: Forward
Nationality: Italian 🇮🇹
Josef Masopust
Year: 1962
Club: Douglas Prague
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Czech Republic 🇨🇿
Lev Yashin
Year: 1963
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Goalkeeper
Nationality: Soviet Union 🇷🇺
Denis Law
Year: 1964
Club: Manchester United
Position: Forward
Nationality: Scottish 🏴
Eusebio
Year: 1965
Club: Benfica
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Bobby Charlton
Year: 1966
Club: Manchester United
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: English 🇬🇧
Florian Albert
Club: Ferencvàros
Position: Forward
Nationality: Hungarian 🇭🇺
George Best
Year: 1968
Club: Manchester United
Position: Forward
Nationality: Northern Irish
Gianni Rivera
Year: 1969
Club: AC Milan
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Italian 🇮🇹
Gerd Muller
Year: 1970
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Forward
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Johan Cruyff
Year: 1971
Club: Ajax
Position: Forward
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Franz Beckenbauer
Year: 1972
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Defender
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Johan Cruyff
Year: 1973
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Johan Cruyff
Year: 1974
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Oley Blokhin
Year: 1975
Club: Dynamo Kyiv
Position: Forward
Nationality: Soviet Union 🇷🇺
Franz Beckenbauer
Year: 1976
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Defender
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Allan Simonsen
Year: 1977
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Forward
Nationality: Denmark 🇩🇰
Kevin Keegan
Year: 1978
Club: Hamburger FC
Position: Forward
Nationality: English 🇬🇧
Kevin Keegan
Year: 1979
Club: Hamburger FC
Position: Forward
Nationality: English 🇬🇧
Karl-Henz Rummenigge
Year: 1980
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Forward
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Karl-Henz Rummenigge
Year: 1981
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Forward
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Paolo Rossi
Year: 1981
Club: Juventus
Position: Forward
Nationality: Italian 🇮🇹
Micheal Platini
Year: 1983
Club: Juventus
Position: Forward
Nationality: French 🇫🇷
Micheal Platini
Year: 1984
Club: Juventus
Position: Forward
Nationality: French 🇫🇷
Micheal Platini
Year: 1985
Club: Juventus
Position: Forward
Nationality: French 🇫🇷
Igor Belanov
Year: 1986
Club: Dynamo Kyiv
Position: Forward
Nationality: Soviet Union 🇷🇺
Rudd Gullit
Year: 1987
Club: AC Miland
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Marco Van Basten
Year: 1988
Club: AC Miland
Position: Forward
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Marco Van Basten
Year: 1989
Club: AC Miland
Position: Forward
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Lothar Matthäus
Year: 1990
Club: Internazionale
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Jean-Perrier Papin
Year: 1991
Club: Marseille
Position: Forward
Nationality: French 🇫🇷
Marco Van Basten
Year: 1992
Club: AC Miland
Position: Forward
Nationality: The Netherlands 🇳🇱
Roberto Baggio
Year: 1993
Club: Juventus
Position: Forward
Nationality: Italian 🇮🇹
Hristo Stoichkov
Year: 1994
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Bulgarian 🇧🇬
George Weah
Year: 1995
Club: AC Miland
Position: Forward
Nationality: Liberia 🇱🇷
Matthias Sammer
Year: 1996
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Position: Defender
Nationality: German 🇩🇪
Ronaldo
Year: 1997
Club: Internazionale
Position: Forward
Nationality: Brazilian 🇧🇷
Zinedine Zidane
Year: 1998
Club: Juventus
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: French 🇫🇷
Rivaldo
Year: 1999
Club: Barcelona
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Brazilian 🇧🇷
Luis Figo
Year: 2000
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Micheal Owen
Year: 2001
Club: Liverpool
Position: Forward
Nationality: English 🇬🇧
Ronaldo
Year: 2002
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Brazilian 🇧🇷
Pavel Nedved
Year: 2003
Club: Juventus
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Czech Republic 🇨🇿
Andriy Shevchenko
Year: 2004
Club: AC Milan
Position: Forward
Nationality: Ukraine 🇺🇦
Ronaldinho
Year: 2005
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Brazilian 🇧🇷
Fabio Cannavaro
Year: 2006
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Defender
Nationality: Italian 🇮🇹
Kaka
Year: 2007
Club: AC Milan
Position: Forward
Nationality: Brazil 🇧🇷
Cristiano Ronaldo
Year: 2008
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Lionel Messi
Year: 2009
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
Lionel Messi
Year: 2010
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
Lionel Messi
Year: 2011
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
Lionel Messi
Year: 2012
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
Cristiano Ronaldo
Year: 2013
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Cristiano Ronaldo
Year: 2014
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Lionel Messi
Year: 2015
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
Cristiano Ronaldo
Year: 2016
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Cristiano Ronaldo
Year: 2017
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Forward
Nationality: Portuguese 🇵🇹
Lukas Modric
Year: 2018
Club: Real Madrid
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Croatian 🇭🇷
Lionel Messi
Year: 2019
Club: Barcelona
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
2020: Canceled Due To Global Pandemic
Lionel Messi
Year: 2021
Club: Paris Saint Germain
Position: Forward
Nationality: Argentine 🇦🇷
A golden ball award is presented to the winners as a trophy to celebrate their achievements. Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to have won the award in 1990, the award is mostly won by strikers and midfielders.
George Weah won the award in 1956 and became the first and only African to win the award since its inauguration. With a total of 64 recipients of the award, Lionel Messi has the most with 7, and Cristiano Ronaldo has the most nominations with 18.
Real Madrid as a club has produced the most number of players that have won the award with a total of 12 players to win the Ballon D’Or.