Awards
The Ballon d’Or: the full list
Sixty-eight ceremonies, from Stanley Matthews in 1956 to Rodri in 2024. The award was not given in 2020 because of the pandemic; there is no winner for that year, and we have not filled it with a guess.
8Lionel Messi
5Cristiano Ronaldo
3Johan Cruyff
3Michel Platini
3Marco van Basten
2Alfredo Di Stéfano
1950s
1959
Alfredo Di Stéfano
Real Madrid
Argentina
1958
Raymond Kopa
Real Madrid
France
1957
Alfredo Di Stéfano
Real Madrid
Argentina
1956
Stanley Matthews
Blackpool
England
1960s
1969
Gianni Rivera
Milan
Italy
1968
George Best
Manchester United
Northern Ireland
1967
Flórián Albert
Ferencváros
Hungary
1966
Bobby Charlton
Manchester United
England
1965
Eusébio
Benfica
Portugal
1964
Denis Law
Manchester United
Scotland
1963
Lev Yashin
Dynamo Moscow
USSR
1962
Josef Masopust
Dukla Prague
Czechoslovakia
1961
Omar Sívori
Juventus
Argentina
1960
Luis Suárez
Barcelona
Spain
1970s
1979
Kevin Keegan
Hamburg
England
1978
Kevin Keegan
Hamburg
England
1977
Allan Simonsen
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Denmark
1976
Franz Beckenbauer
Bayern Munich
West Germany
1975
Oleg Blokhin
Dynamo Kyiv
USSR
1974
Johan Cruyff
Barcelona
Netherlands
1973
Johan Cruyff
Barcelona
Netherlands
1972
Franz Beckenbauer
Bayern Munich
West Germany
1971
Johan Cruyff
Ajax
Netherlands
1970
Gerd Müller
Bayern Munich
West Germany
1980s
1989
Marco van Basten
Milan
Netherlands
1988
Marco van Basten
Milan
Netherlands
1987
Ruud Gullit
Milan
Netherlands
1986
Igor Belanov
Dynamo Kyiv
USSR
1985
Michel Platini
Juventus
France
1984
Michel Platini
Juventus
France
1983
Michel Platini
Juventus
France
1982
Paolo Rossi
Juventus
Italy
1981
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Bayern Munich
West Germany
1980
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Bayern Munich
West Germany
1990s
1999
Rivaldo
Barcelona
Brazil
1998
Zinedine Zidane
Juventus
France
1997
Ronaldo
Inter
Brazil
1996
Matthias Sammer
Borussia Dortmund
Germany
1995
George Weah
Milan
Liberia
1994
Hristo Stoichkov
Barcelona
Bulgaria
1993
Roberto Baggio
Juventus
Italy
1992
Marco van Basten
Milan
Netherlands
1991
Jean-Pierre Papin
Marseille
France
1990
Lothar Matthäus
Inter
West Germany
2000s
2009
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Argentina
2008
Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United
Portugal
2007
Kaká
Milan
Brazil
2006
Fabio Cannavaro
Real Madrid
Italy
2005
Ronaldinho
Barcelona
Brazil
2004
Andriy Shevchenko
Milan
Ukraine
2003
Pavel Nedvěd
Juventus
Czech Republic
2002
Ronaldo
Real Madrid
Brazil
2001
Michael Owen
Liverpool
England
2000
Luís Figo
Real Madrid
Portugal
2010s
2019
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Argentina
2018
Luka Modrić
Real Madrid
Croatia
2017
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid
Portugal
2016
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid
Portugal
2015
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Argentina
2014
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid
Portugal
2013
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid
Portugal
2012
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Argentina
2011
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Argentina
2010
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Argentina
2020s
2024
Rodri
Manchester City
Spain
2023
Lionel Messi
Inter Miami
Argentina
2022
Karim Benzema
Real Madrid
France
2021
Lionel Messi
Paris Saint-Germain
Argentina
2020
— not awarded —
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What the numbers say
Lionel Messi has won it eight times, Cristiano Ronaldo five, and Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten three each. Only three defenders or goalkeepers have ever won: Yashin (1963), Beckenbauer (1972, 1976) and Cannavaro (2006).
Since 1995 the award has been open to non-European players, and since 2007 to players from any league in the world. That is why the list before 1995 looks so European: it was not a jury preference, it was the rule.