The Ballon d'Or (French pronunciation:[balɔ̃dɔʁ]ⓘ; lit.'Golden Ball') is an annual football award presented by French 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 was based exclusively on voting by football journalists up until 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 an international jury of specialized journalists, with one representative per country, from the top 100 in the latest FIFA Men's World Ranking would elect the winner of the award. UEFA co-organizes the Ballon d'Or gala since 2024, with France Football retaining the voting system and the Ballon d'Or name.
The Ballon d'Or is widely regarded as football's most prestigious and valuable individual award.[1][2][3][4] Prior to 2007, it 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.[5][6] Even after 2007, it was usually identified with and referred to by that name because of its origin as a European award,[7][8] until it was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award cementing its new worldwide claim.[9][10]Stanley Matthews of England was the inaugural winner of the award.[11][12] 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;[13][14]two years later, Ronaldo of Brazil became the first South American to claim the award,[13] and he is still the youngest winner ever at 21 years and 96 days old.[15] The award became a global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from clubs around the world being eligible;[16] additionally, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote,[6][15] before reverting to just journalists in 2016.[17]
Lionel Messi holds the record for most Ballon d'Or wins with eight,[4][18] while five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo earned the most nominations with eighteen.[19] 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,[20][21] 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: Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten.[11][19] With seven awards each, Dutch, German, Portuguese and French players have won the second most Ballons d'Or, underneath Argentina in first with eight.[14] 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 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.[18] The award shows a bias in favour of attacking players,[22] and, over time, it has gone to a more exclusive set of leagues and clubs.[6] 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.[6][23] 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.[23][24]
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,[25] which was awarded to the world's best male player before FIFA and France Football decided not to continue the merging agreement.[2][15] The recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d'Or are considered as winners by both award organizations.[6][26][27] 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.[28] In 2020, Groupe Amaury, to which France Football belongs,[29] decided that no award would be given for the year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football.[1][30] The widespread public opinion is that the 2020 Ballon d'Or should have been awarded to Robert Lewandowski.[31][32][33]
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.[15][34] It was also decided that an international jury of specialized journalists, with one representative per country, from the top 100 in the latest FIFA Men's World Ranking would determine the winner of the award;[17][35] the plebiscite had previously been open to all countries since 2007.[15][34]UEFA co-organizes the Ballon d'Or gala since 2024, with France Football retaining the voting system and the Ballon d'Or name.[29][36]
Criteria
The Ballon d'Or is awarded based on three main criteria:[35]
1) Individual performances, decisive and impressive character;
2) Team performances and achievements;
3) Class and fair play.
Nevertheless, critics have occasionally described the award as a "popularity contest",[37][38] criticizing its voting process,[17] its bias in favour of attacking players,[22] and the idea of systematically singling out an individual in a team sport.[39][40]
Winners
Lionel Messi won the most Ballons d'Or in history, with eight wins in three different decades. He is also the record holder for most consecutive wins, with four between 2009 and 2012.Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or a record eighteen times, and is a five-time winner.Stanley Matthews was the inaugural recipient of the award, and the oldest player to ever win it.Luis Suárez was the first midfielder to ever win the award.Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to win the award.Johan Cruyff was the first player to win the award three times.Franz Beckenbauer is the only defender to win the award twice.George Weah—the only African recipient—was the first non-European to win the award.Two-time winner Ronaldo is the youngest player to ever win the award.Rodri is the current award holder.
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][34]
Player(X)
Denotes the number of times the player had won the award at that time (for players with multiple wins)
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.[44]
First awarded in 2019, the Yashin Trophy is presented to the best goalkeeper of the season. The award is named after Soviet goalkeeper and 1963 Ballon d'Or winner Lev Yashin.[45]
In 2021, France Football awarded Robert Lewandowski with a Striker of the Year award for scoring the most goals the previous season.[46] Following Gerd Müller's death in 2021, the award was renamed for the 2022 edition to the Gerd Müller Trophy.[47]
Starting from 2022, France Football gives out the Sócrates Award, which acknowledges footballers for their humanitarian work.[48] The award is named after late Brazilian footballer Sócrates, who co-founded the Corinthians Democracy movement, in opposition to the ruling military dictatorship in Brazil during the 1980s.[49]
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.[50][51]Manchester City won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023,[52] while Real Madrid won the most recent edition in 2024.[53]
France Football first gave out the Women's Club of the Year award in 2023 and so 2024, and FC Barcelona Femení won it in both occasions.[54]
Pelé was voted Football Player of the Century in 1999. He was also the recipient of the FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur in 2013, and in 2020 he was selected to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team.Diego Maradona was honoured with the Golden Ballon d'Or in 1995 and he was also selected to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team.
In addition Diego Maradona received an honorary Ballon d'Or in 1995 for his services to football dubbed the Golden Ballon d'Or.[17][56][58]Pelé also received a similar award during the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony dubbed the FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur.[17][59]
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.[17] 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.[60]
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.[17][58] 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—seven times—and Diego Maradona—twice—Garrincha, Mario Kempes, and Romário were retrospectively recognized as worthy winners.[58][61] 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.[62][63] A second and a third team were also published.[64]
^"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.
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