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Ballon d'Or Winners List: Full list of award winners from 1956 to 2023

The Ballon d'Or is the highest individual honour in football, recognising the best players in the beautiful game based on their performance for club and country.

The Ballon d'Or award is presented by French football magazine - France Football and is voted for by a jury of journalists from across footballing nations every year.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the Ballon dOr since 2008

Conceived by sports writer Gabriel Hanot, Ballon d'Or has been awarded since 1956, although between 2010 and 2015, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year and was known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

However, the partnership with FIFA ended in 2016, and the award reverted to the Ballon d'Or, while FIFA also reverted to its own separate annual award The Best FIFA Men's Player. The award ceremony has taken place every year since 1956 except for 2020.

After a year's hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Ballon d'Or made it's return in 2021 with the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, predominant duo in recent years, winning the award winning 12 of the last 13 awards.

Who has won Ballon d'Or most?

While Messi has won the Ballon d'Or a record eight times, his counterpart and rival Ronaldo has won the prestigious award five times. The duo started their domination in 2008, but before that there were superstar footballers like Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten among many others.

Prior to 1995, 10 leagues supplied Ballon d'Or winners, but since then only England, Germany, Italy, and Spain have supplied winners with La Liga's Real Madrid and Barcelona dominating the list. Here is a look at the previous winners list:

Ballon d'Or Winners List from 1956 to 2023

Year Player Club (at time of winning)
2023 Lionel Messi Inter Miami
2022 Karim Benzema Real Madrid
2021 Lionel Messi PSG
2020 NA Cancelled (Pandemic)
2019 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2018 Luka Modric Real Madrid
2017 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2016 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2015 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2013 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2012 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2011 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2010 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2009 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2008 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United
2007 Kaka Milan
2006 Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid
2005 Ronaldinho Barcelona
2004 Andriy Shvechenko Milan
2003 Pavel Nedved Juventus
2002 Ronaldo Real Madrid
2001 Michael Owen Liverpool
2000 Luis Figo Real Madrid
1999 Rivaldo Barcelona
1998 Zinedine Zidane Juventus
1997 Ronaldo Inter
1996 Matthias Sammer Borussia Dortmund
1995 George Weah Milan
1994 Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona
1993 Roberto Baggio Juventus
1992 Marco van Basten Milan
1991 Jean-Pierre Papin Marseille
1990 Lothar Matthaus Inter
1989 Marco van Basten Milan
1988 Marco van Basten Milan
1987 Ruud Gullit Milan
1986 Igor Belanov Dynamo Kyiv
1985 Michel Platini Juventus
1984 Michel Platini Juventus
1983 Michel Platini Juventus
1982 Paolo Rossi Juventus
1981 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Bayern Munich
1980 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Bayern Munich
1979 Kevin Keegan Hamburger SV
1978 Kevin Keegan Hamburger SV
1977 Allan Simonsen Borussia Moenchengladbach
1976 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich
1975 Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
1974 Johan Cruyff Barcelona
1973 Johan Cruyff Barcelona
1972 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich
1971 Johan Cruyff Barcelona
1970 Gerd Muller Bayern Munich
1969 Gianni Rivera Milan
1968 George Best Manchester United
1967 Florian Albert Ferencvaros
1966 Bobby Charlton Manchester United
1965 Eusebio Benfica
1964 Dennis Law Manchester United
1963 Lev Yashin Dynamo Moscow
1962 Josef Masopust Dukla Prague
1961 Omar Sivori Juventus
1960 Luis Suarez Barcelona
1959 Alfredo di Stefano Real Madrid
1958 Raymond Kopa Real Madrid
1957 Alfredo di Stefano Real Madrid
1956 Stanley Matthews Blackpool
Story first published: Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 1:28 [IST]
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