Ballon d’Or winners 2026

The Ballon d’Or is an annual football award presented by French news magazine France Football since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (founded in 1991) and known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or. That partnership 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 recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d’Or are considered as winners by both award organizations.

The Ballon d’Or is generally regarded as football’s most prestigious and valuable individual award. Conceived by sports writers Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, the Ballon d’Or award honours the male player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on voting by football journalists, from 1956 to 2006. Originally, it was awarded only to players from Europe and widely known as the European Footballer of the Year award. In 1995, the Ballon d’Or was expanded to include all players from any origin that have been active at European clubs.

After 2007, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote. The award became a global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible. In 2022, France Football modified the rules for the Ballon d’Or. They changed the timing so that awards were given not for achievements during a calendar year, but for a football season. It was also decided that only those countries in the top 100 of the FIFA World Ranking would be allowed to vote.

Here are the Ballon d’Or winners since 1956.

Winners

All the winners through the years of Ballon d’Or.

YearPlayerNationalityClub
2023Lionel MessiArgentinaParis Saint-Germain / Inter Miami
2022Karim Benzema FranceReal Madrid
2021Lionel MessiArgentinaParis Saint-Germain
2020Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2018Luka ModricCroatiaReal Madrid
2017Cristiano RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2016Cristiano RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2015Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2014Cristiano RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2013Cristiano RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2012Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2011Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2010Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2009Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2008Cristiano RonaldoPortugalManchester United
2007Kaká BrazilAC Milan
2006Fabio CannavaroItalyReal Madrid
2005RonaldinhoBrazilBarcelona
2004Andriy ShevchenkoUkraineAC Milan
2003Pavel NedvědCzechiaJuventus
2002RonaldoBrazilReal Madrid
2001Michael OwenEnglandLiverpool
2000Luís FigoPortugalReal Madrid
1999RivaldoBrazilBarcelona
1998Zinedine ZidaneFranceJuventus
1997RonaldoBrazilInter Milan
1996Matthias SammerGermanyBorussia Dortmund
1995George WeahLiberiaAC Milan
1994Hristo StoichkovBulgariaBarcelona
1993Roberto BaggioItalyJuventus
1992Marco van BastenNetherlandsAC Milan
1991Jean-Pierre PapinFranceMarseille
1990Lothar MatthäusGermanyInter Milan
1989Marco van BastenNetherlandsAC Milan
1988Marco van BastenNetherlandsAC Milan
1987Ruud GullitNetherlandsAC Milan
1986Igor BelanovSoviet UnionDynamo Kyiv
1985Michel PlatiniFranceJuventus
1984Michel PlatiniFranceJuventus
1983Michel PlatiniFranceJuventus
1982Paolo RossiItalyJuventus
1981Karl-Heinz RummeniggeWest GermanyBayern Munich
1980Karl-Heinz RummeniggeWest GermanyBayern Munich
1979Kevin KeeganEnglandHamburger SV
1978Kevin KeeganEnglandHamburger SV
1977Allan SimonsenDenmarkBorussia Mönchengladbach
1976Franz BeckenbauerWest GermanyBayern Munich
1975Oleg BlokhinSoviet UnionDynamo Kyiv
1974Johan CruyffNetherlandsBarcelona
1973Johan CruyffNetherlandsBarcelona
1972Franz BeckenbauerWest GermanyBayern Munich
1971Johan CruyffNetherlandsAjax
1970Gerd MüllerWest GermanyBayern Munich
1969Gianni RiveraItalyAC Milan
1968George BestNorthern IrelandManchester United
1967Flórián AlbertHungaryFerencváros
1966Bobby CharltonEnglandManchester United
1965EusébioPortugalBenfica
1964Denis LawScotlandManchester United
1963Lev YashinSoviet UnionDynamo Moscow
1962Josef MasopustCzechoslovakiaDukla Prague
1961Omar SívoriItalyJuventus
1960Luis SuárezSpainBarcelona
1959Alfredo Di StéfanoArgentinaReal Madrid
1958Raymond KopaFranceReal Madrid
1957Alfredo Di StéfanoArgentinaReal Madrid
1956Stanley MatthewsEnglandBlackpool

Players with most wins

Players that have won Ballon d’Or most times.

RankPlayerWins
1.Lionel Messi8
2.Cristiano Ronaldo5
3.Michel Platini3
4.Johan Cruyff3
5.Marco van Basten3
6.Franz Beckenbauer2
7.Ronaldo2
8.Alfredo Di Stéfano2
9.Kevin Keegan2
10.Karl-Heinz Rummenigge2
11.Luis Suárez1
12.Eusébio1
13.Bobby Charlton1
14.Raymond Kopa1
15.Gerd Müller1
16.Zinedine Zidane1
17.Gianni Rivera1
18.Ruud Gullit1
19.Lothar Matthäus1
20.Roberto Baggio1
21.Hristo Stoichkov1
22.Andriy Shevchenko1
23.George Best1
24.Allan Simonsen1
25.Ronaldinho1
26.Flórián Albert1
27.Jean-Pierre Papin1
28.George Weah1
29.Matthias Sammer1
30.Rivaldo1
31.Luís Figo1
32.Michael Owen1
33.Pavel Nedvěd1
34.Fabio Cannavaro1
35.Kaká1
36.Luka Modrić1
37.Karim Benzema1
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