The Ballon d'Or (French pronunciation:[balɔ̃dɔʁ]ⓘ;
lit.'Golden Ball') is an annual
football award presented by French news magazine France Football since
1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season.
Conceived by sports writers
Gabriel Hanot and
Jacques Ferran, the Ballon d'Or award was based exclusively on voting by football journalists, from 1956 to
2006. Originally, it was awarded only to players from Europe and was widely known as the European Footballer of the Year award. In
1995, the Ballon d'Or was expanded to include all players of any origin that have been active at European clubs. The award became a global prize in
2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible; additionally, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote, before reverting to just journalists in
2016.
Between
2010 and
2015, in an agreement with
FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the
FIFA World Player of the Year, and was 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. In
2022, France Football modified the rules for the Ballon d'Or. The timing was changed so that awards were given not for achievements during a calendar year, but for a football season, and it was also determined that only a single journalist from each country in the top 100 of the
FIFA Men's World Ranking would be allowed to vote.
UEFA is set to co-organize the awards gala—with France Football retaining the voting system and the Ballon d'Or name—starting from the upcoming
2024 edition.
The Ballon d'Or is widely regarded as football's most prestigious and valuable individual award.[1][2][3][4] Nevertheless, critics have occasionally described the award as a "popularity contest",[5][6] criticizing its voting process,[7] its bias in favour of attacking players,[8] and the idea of systematically singling out an individual in a team sport.[9][10]
Stanley Matthews of
England was the
inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or.[11][12] Prior to
2007, the award was based exclusively on voting by football journalists and was generally known as the continental European Footballer of the Year award in English language and much international media.[13][14] Even after 2007, it was usually identified with and referred to by that name because of its origin as a European award,[15][16] until it was merged with FIFA's World Player award cementing its new worldwide claim.[17][18] Liberia's
George Weah, the only African recipient, became the first non-European to win the award in
1995, the year that rules of eligibility were changed and the Ballon d'Or was expanded to include all players of any origin, active at European clubs;[19][20]two years later,
Ronaldo of Brazil became the first South American to claim the award,[19] and he still remains the youngest winner ever at 21 years and 5 months old.[21] The award became a global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from clubs around the world being eligible;[22] additionally, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote,[14] before reverting to just journalists in
2016.[7]
Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or a record eight times,[4][23] while five-time winner
Cristiano Ronaldo has earned the most nominations with eighteen.[24] Messi is the only player to win the award with three different teams and also the only one to win it while playing outside Europe,[25] as well as being the player with the most
podiums, finishing in the top-three a record fourteen times.[4] Three players have won the award three times each:
Michel Platini,
Johan Cruyff and
Marco van Basten.[11][24] With seven awards each, Dutch, German, Portuguese and French players have won the second most Ballons d'Or, underneath Argentina in first with eight.[20] Players from Germany (
1972,
1981) and the Netherlands (
1988) occupied the top-three spots in a single year. German (1972) and Italian (1988–
1990) clubs achieved the same feat, including two individual years dominated by
AC Milan players (1988,
1989), a unique record until Spanish clubs experienced an unprecedented dominance (
2009–
2012,
2015, 2016) and
Barcelona (
2010) became the second club to occupy the top-three.[23] The award shows a bias in favour of attacking players,[8] and, over time, it has gone to a more exclusive set of leagues and clubs.[14] Prior to 1995, ten leagues supplied Ballon d'Or winners, whereas only England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States have supplied winners since then.[14][26] Spain's
La Liga has the most Ballon d'Or winners overall, with twenty-four wins shared between Barcelona and
Real Madrid; with twelve wins each, the two Spanish clubs also lead the overall club ranking for producing the most winners.[26][27]
Between 2010 and 2015 inclusive, the award was merged with a similar one, the
FIFA World Player of the Year award, to create the
FIFA Ballon d'Or,[28] which was awarded to the world's best male player before FIFA and France Football decided not to continue the merging agreement.[2] The recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d'Or are considered as winners by both award organizations.[14][29][30] After 2011,
UEFA created the
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award to maintain the tradition of the original Ballon d'Or of specifically honouring a football player from Europe.[31] In 2020,
Groupe Amaury, to which France Football belongs,[32] decided that no award would be given for the year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic cutting short the seasons of football clubs worldwide.[1][33] The widespread public opinion is that the 2020 award should have been given to
Robert Lewandowski.[34][35][36]
France Football modified the rules for the Ballon d'Or in
2022. They changed the timing so that awards were given not for achievements during a calendar year, but for a football season.[37] It was also decided that only a single journalist from each country in the top 100 of the
FIFA Men's World Ranking would be allowed to vote.[7] The plebiscite had previously been open to all countries since 2007.[37] This brought the Ballon d'Or into line with the
UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award which was slightly less dominated by exclusive leagues and, in particular, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the 2010s.[37] Beginning in
2024,
UEFA is set to co-organize the Ballon d'Or with France Football, with the magazine retaining the voting system and the Ballon d'Or name and UEFA organizing the awards gala.[32][38]
Winners
Note: Until
2021, the Ballon d'Or was awarded based on player performance during the calendar year. Since
2022, jurors have been instructed to take into account the previous season.[2][37]
^Born in Argentina, Di Stéfano acquired Spanish citizenship in 1956 and went on to play for the
Spain national football team, thus becoming eligible for the award.
^Kopa was signed by Real Madrid from
Reims midway through 1956.
^Kopa was signed by Reims from
Real Madrid midway through 1959.
^Born in Argentina, Sívori acquired Italian citizenship in 1961 and went on to play for the
Italy national football team, thus becoming eligible for the award.
^Luis Suárez was signed by Inter Milan from
Barcelona midway through 1961.
^Cruyff was signed by Barcelona from
Ajax midway through 1973.
^Keegan was signed by Hamburger SV from
Liverpool midway through 1977.
^Krankl was signed by Barcelona from
Rapid Wien midway through 1978.
^Schuster was signed by Barcelona from
1. FC Köln midway through 1980.
^Boniek was signed by Juventus from
Widzew Łódź midway through 1982.
^Simonsen was signed by Vejle from
Charlton Athletic midway through 1983.
^Elkjær was signed by Hellas Verona from
Lokeren midway through 1984.
^Lineker was signed by Barcelona from
Everton midway through 1986.
^Gullit was signed by AC Milan from
PSV Eindhoven midway through 1987.
^Futre was signed by Atlético Madrid from
Porto midway through 1987.
^Rijkaard was signed by AC Milan from
Zaragoza midway through 1988.
^Bergkamp was signed by Inter Milan from
Ajax midway through 1993.
Since 2018 France Football has given out the Kopa Trophy to the best performing player under the age of 21. The award is named after
1958 Ballon d'Or winner
Raymond Kopa.[43]
First awarded in
2019, the Yashin Trophy is presented to the best goalkeeper of the year. The award was named after Soviet goalkeeper and
1963 Ballon d'Or winner
Lev Yashin.[44]
In
2021, France Football awarded
Robert Lewandowski with a Striker of the Year award for scoring the most goals the previous season.[45] Following
Gerd Müller's death in 2021, the award was renamed for the
2022 edition to the Gerd Müller Trophy.[46]
Sócrates Award
In 2022, France Football gave out the first edition of the Sócrates Award to
Sadio Mané for his humanitarian efforts in
Senegal.[47] In
2023, the winner was
Vinícius Júnior, for his humanitarian work in Brazil.[48] The award was named after late Brazilian footballer
Sócrates.
Men's Club of the Year
France Football first gave out the Men's Club of the Year award in 2021, with the inaugural winner being
Chelsea.[49][50]Manchester City won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.[51]
Women's Club of the Year
France Football first gave out the Women's Club of the Year award in
2023, with the inaugural winner being
FC Barcelona Femení.[52]
Men's Coach of the Year
France Football is set to give out the Men's Coach of the Year award starting in
2024.[32][38]
Women's Coach of the Year
France Football is set to give out the Women's Coach of the Year award starting in 2024.[32][38]
In addition
Diego Maradona received an honorary Ballon d'Or in 1995 for his services to football dubbed the Golden Ballon d'Or.[7][53][55]Pelé also received a similar award during the
2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony dubbed the FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur.[7][56]
Football Player of the Century
In 1999, France Football voted
Pelé as the Football Player of the Century after consulting their former Ballon d'Or recipients.[7] Among the 34 previous winners, 30 cast their votes, while
Stanley Matthews,
Omar Sívori and
George Best refused to vote, and
Lev Yashin had died. Each voter was allotted five votes worth up to five points; however, Di Stéfano only chose a first place, Platini a first and second place, and
George Weah two players for fifth place. Pelé was named the greatest by 17 voters, receiving almost double the number of points earned by the second place,
Diego Maradona.[57]
To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in
2016, France Football published an internationalized reevaluation of the awards presented before
1995, when only European players were eligible to win the award.[7] 12 out of the 39 Ballons d'Or presented during this time period would have been awarded to South American players; in addition to Pelé and Diego Maradona,
Garrincha,
Mario Kempes, and
Romário were retrospectively recognized as worthy winners.[58] The original recipients, however, remain unchanged.[3]
Le nouveau palmarès (internationalized reevaluation)
An all-time
all-star team, the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, was published in December 2020 by France Football, honouring football's greatest players of all time.[59][60] A second and a third team were also published.[61]
^"Lionel Messi wins The Best FIFA Men's Player Award".
FIFA. 15 January 2024.
Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024. Lionel Messi has been crowned The Best FIFA Men's Player 2023, retaining the title he won in 2022 [...] Messi also won the 2019 Best FIFA Men's Player award and was recognised by FIFA as the leading player in the men's game on five occasions prior to that – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015 – making this his eighth individual award in total.