The Ballon d’Or (French for “Golden Ball”) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine France Football since 1956. It has been regarded as the most prestigious and valuable individual award in football.
The award is given to the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on voting by football journalists. From 1956 to 2006, the award was only open to players from Europe, but since 1995 it has been open to all players from any origin who have been active at European clubs.
In 2018, France Football launched a women’s Ballon d’Or award, known as the Ballon d’Or Féminin.
The most successful player in the history of the Ballon d’Or is Lionel Messi, who has won the award a record eight times.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the second most successful player, with five awards.
Below are the winners of the award since 1956:
1956: Stanley Matthews (Blackpool)
1957: Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid)
1958: Raymond Kopa (Real Madrid)
1959: Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid)
1960: Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
1961: Omar Sivori (Juventus)
1962: Josef Masopust (Dukla Prague)
1963: Lev Yashin (Dynamo Moscow)
1964: Denis Law (Manchester United)
1965: Eusebio (Benfica)
1966: Bobby Charlton (Manchester United)
1967: Florian Albert (Ferencvaros)
1968: George Best (Manchester United)
1969: Gianni Rivera (AC Milan)
1970: Gerd Muller (Bayern Munich)
1971: Johan Cruyff (Ajax)
1972: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)
1973: Johan Cruyff (Barcelona)
1974: Johan Cruyff (Barcelona)
1975: Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv)
1976: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)
1977: Allan Simonsen (Borussia Monchengladbach)
1978: Kevin Keegan (Hamburg)
1979: Kevin Keegan (Hamburg)
1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich)
1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich)
1982: Paolo Rossi (Juventus)
1983: Michel Platini (Juventus)
1984: Michel Platini (Juventus)
1985: Michel Platini (Juventus)
1986: Igor Belanov (Dynamo Kyiv)
1987: Ruud Gullit (AC Milan)
1988: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
1989: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
1990: Lothar Matthaus (Internazionale)
1991: Jean-Pierre Papin (Marseille)
1992: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
1993: Roberto Baggio (Juventus)
1994: Hristo Stoichkov (Barcelona)
1995: George Weah (AC Milan)
1996: Matthias Sammer (Borussia Dortmund)
1997: Ronaldo (Internazionale)
1998: Zinedine Zidane (Juventus)
1999: Rivaldo (Barcelona)
2000: Luis Figo (Real Madrid)
2001: Michael Owen (Liverpool)
2002: Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2003: Pavel Nedved (Juventus)
2004: Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)
2005: Ronaldinho (Barcelona)
2006: Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid)
2007: Kaka (Milan)
2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
2009: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
2010: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
2011: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
2012: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
2013: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2014: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2015: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
2016: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2017: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2018: Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
2019: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
2020: Cancelled
2021: Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
2022: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
2023: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
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