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.
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.
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:
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 |