Who are All the Ballon d’Or Winners?

The coveted Ballon d’Or is awarded every year to the best male and female soccer players in the world.

Voted on by a panel of national team coaches and captains, the Ballon d’Or or ‘Golden Ball’ is the one award every soccer fan references to the debate about who was the best soccer player this year.

Amazing soccer players such as Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Johan Cruyff have been past winners of the trophy.

In this article, we’ll address some of the history behind the Golden Ball as well as a list of all the Ballon d’Or winners from every year.

History of the Ballon d’Or

The Ballon d’Or was first awarded in 1956. At the beginning, only European players were eligible to receive recognition.

However, in 1995 the award could be given to players from any part of the country as long as they played for a European club.

In 2007, the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award were merged to create the FIFA Ballon d’Or, which was awarded until 2015. Since then, the Ballon d’Or has been awarded independently.

Fairly recently in 2018, The Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s Ballon d’Or) was first introduced and given to the best female soccer player in the world.

Who Votes for the Ballon d’Or?

In 2022, the voting for the Ballon d’Or was modified to reflect voting rights for more established soccer nations.

In prior years, a journalist from 180 nations was identified and given a ballot. Each ballot consisted of picking top five players from a 30-player shortlist. These votes were then weighted and calculated by France Football to determine who came out on top.

Beginning 2022, the 180 nations were sliced to FIFA’s top 100 countries for the men’s Ballon d’Or and 50 countries for the women’s award. The actual voting process remained the same.

The motivation behind this was to make sure that countries where soccer is popularized can have a significant impact on the prestigious award.

Ballon d’Or Winners (Male)

Year	Player	Nationality	Club
2022	Karim Benzema	France	Real Madrid
2021	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Paris Saint-Germain F.C.
2020	NOT AWARDED
2019	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona
2018	Luka Modric	Croatia	Real Madrid
2017	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Real Madrid
2016	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Real Madrid
2015	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona
2014	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Real Madrid
2013	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Real Madrid
2012	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona
2011	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona
2010	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona
2009	Lionel Messi	Argentina	Barcelona
2008	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Manchester United
2007	Kaká	Brazil	Milan
2006	Fabio Cannavaro	Italy	Real Madrid
2005	Ronaldinho	Brazil	Barcelona
2004	Andriy Shevchenko	Ukrain	Milan
2003	Pavel Nedvěd	Czechia	Juventus
2002	Ronaldo	Brazil	Real Madrid
2001	Michael Owen	England	Liverpool
2000	Luís Figo	Portugal	Real Madrid
1999	Rivaldo	Brazil	Barcelona
1998	Zinedine Zidane	France	Juventus
1997	Ronaldo	Brazil	Internazionale
1996	Matthias Sammer	Germany	Borussia Dortmund
1995	George Weah	Liberia	Milan
1994	Hristo Stoichkov	Bulgaria	Barcelona
1993	Roberto Baggio	Italy	Juventus
1992	Marco van Basten	Netherlands	Milan
1991	Jean-Pierre Papin	France	Marseille
1990	Lothar Matthäus	Germany	Internazionale
1989	Marco van Basten	Netherlands	Milan
1988	Marco van Basten	Netherlands	Milan
1987	Ruud Gullit	Netherlands	Milan
1986	Igor Belanov	Soviet Union	Dynamo Kyiv
1985	Michel Platini	France	Juventus
1984	Michel Platini	France	Juventus
1983	Michel Platini	France	Juventus
1982	Paolo Rossi	Italy	Juventus
1981	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	West Germany	Bayern Munich
1980	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	West Germany	Bayern Munich
1979	Kevin Keegan	England	Hamburg
1978	Kevin Keegan	England	Hamburg
1977	Allan Simonsen	Denmark	Borussia M”nchengladbach
1976	Franz Beckenbauer	West Germany	Bayern Munich
1975	Oleg Blokhin	Soviet Union	Dynamo Kyiv
1974	Johan Cruyff	Netherlands	Barcelona
1973	Johan Cruyff	Netherlands	Barcelona
1972	Franz Beckenbauer	West Germany	Bayern Munich
1971	Johan Cruyff	Netherlands	Ajax
1970	Gerd Müller	West Germany	Bayern Munich
1969	Gianni Rivera	Italy	Milan
1968	George Best	Northern Ireland	Manchester United
1967	Flórián Albert	Hungary	Ferencv rosi TC
1966	Bobby Charlton	England	Manchester United
1965	Eusébio	Portugal	Benfica
1964	Denis Law	Scotland	Manchester United
1963	Lev Yashin	Soviet Union	Dynamo Moscow
1962	Josef Masopust	Czechoslovakia	Dukla Prague
1961	Omar Sívori	Italy	Juventus
1960	Luis Suárez	Spain	Barcelona
1959	Alfredo Di Stéfano	Spain	Real Madrid
1958	Raymond Kopa	France	Real Madrid
1957	Alfredo Di Stéfano	Spain	Real Madrid
1956	Stanley Matthews	England	Blackpool

Ballon d’Or Winners (Female)

Year	Player	Nationality	Club
2022	Alexia Putellas	Spain	Barcelona
2021	Alexia Putellas	Spain	Barcelona
2020	NOT AWARDED
2019	Megan Rapinoe	USA	Reign FC
2018	Ada Hegerberg	Norway	Olympique Lyonnais

Ballon d’Or Facts

• Lionel Messi won his first Ballon d’Or in 2010. He went on to win six more awards.
• Ada Hegerberg won the first ever Ballon d’Or Féminin.
• Karim Benzema is the oldest first-time winner of the Ballon d’Or. He was 34 years, 9 months and 29 days when he was awarded the trophy in 2022.
• Cristiano Ronaldo has received a Ballon d’Or vote every year since 2003.
• Man United have won twice as many Ballons d’Or as every other English club combined.
• Barcelona won the most Ballon d’Or by a soccer club.
• Lev Yashin also known as the “Black Spider” is the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or.