Ballon d'Or

• 1. Introduction

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  The Ballon d'Or was decided by seven points in 2019. Lionel Messi took it with 686, and Virgil van Dijk finished on 679. The name is French for golden ball. Every year a French magazine hands the trophy to the footballer it judges best over the previous season. Many fans treat it as the most prestigious individual prize in the sport. Yet no stopwatch or scoreboard produces the winner. The result rests entirely on ballots, and the people allowed to cast them have changed several times. Who first decided that a team game needed one name above all others? Why did the prize overlook most of the world for decades? What happened when football's governing body, FIFA, tried to share it? And why did one year pass with no winner at all?

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• 2. Two Journalists and a Golden Ball

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  Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran were sports writers, and the Ballon d'Or was their idea. Their magazine, France Football, first presented it in 1956. For the next half century, football journalists were the only people who voted. At the start, only players from Europe were eligible. That is why the prize was also called the European Footballer of the Year.

  Stanley Matthews of Blackpool won the first edition with 47 points. Alfredo Di Stéfano of Real Madrid was close behind on 44. His club teammate Raymond Kopa collected 33. Matthews is still the oldest player ever to win the award.

  Di Stéfano did not stay second for long. He won in 1957 with 72 points, and again in 1959 with a tally of 80. Between those two victories, Kopa took the trophy himself in 1958, scoring 71 points.

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• 3. Opening the Gates

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  George Weah of Liberia won in 1995, and no African has won since. He was the first recipient from outside Europe. The rules had changed that year, so players of any origin could win if they played for a European club. Weah, then at Milan, finished on 144 points. Jürgen Klinsmann of Bayern Munich followed with 108.

  In 1997, Brazil's Ronaldo, playing for Inter Milan, collected 222 points. He was the first South American without a European citizenship to take the prize. He also remains the youngest winner in its history.

  The next change came in 2007, when every professional footballer in the world became eligible. Coaches and captains of national teams were handed votes, a right that lasted only until 2016, when the ballot went back to journalists alone. Kaká of Milan won that first global edition with 444 points. The totals had been far smaller before.

  The 2007 podium also held two names that would shape what followed. Cristiano Ronaldo was second on 277, and Lionel Messi was third on 255.

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• 4. The FIFA Years

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  From 2010 to 2015 inclusive, the trophy carried a longer name: the FIFA Ballon d'Or. Under an agreement with FIFA, it was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Anyone who won during those six years counts as a winner by both organisations.

  The vote was reported as percentages instead of points. Messi won in 2010 with 22.65 percent, ahead of his Barcelona teammates Andrés Iniesta and Xavi. A year later he took 47.88 percent, more than double Cristiano Ronaldo's 21.60. Messi won again in 2012.

  Then the order flipped. Ronaldo won in 2013 by a narrow margin, 27.99 percent to Messi's 24.72. He won again in 2014 with 37.66 percent. Messi answered with 41.33 percent in 2015.

  FIFA and France Football then chose not to continue the partnership. The award reverted to the Ballon d'Or name, and FIFA brought back its own separate prize, The Best FIFA Men's Player. Ronaldo won the first solo edition in 2016 with 745 points, far ahead of Messi's 316. In 2017 he reached 946.

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• 5. Three Criteria, Many Critics

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  Three questions are meant to guide every voter. The first is about individual performances, specifically whether they were decisive and impressive. The second asks about the team's performances and achievements. The third is about class and fair play.

  Not everyone is convinced the system works. Critics have at times called the award a "popularity contest". Some object to the voting process itself. Others dislike its tilt toward attacking players. A further objection goes deeper, questioning the idea of systematically singling out one individual in a team sport.

  The argument over who should vote took a new turn in 2022, when France Football rewrote the rules once again.

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• 6. Where the Winners Come From

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  Argentina and France each have eight winners, the most of any country. Dutch, German and Portuguese players follow with seven each. Some single years went to one nation entirely. In 1972 and 1981, West Germans filled the top three places, and in 1988 the Netherlands did the same.

  Clubs have had their own runs. West German clubs dominated the 1972 vote. Italian clubs did the same from 1988 to 1990, and in 1988 and 1989 Milan players alone made up the podium or most of it. In 1988 those three were Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard.

  Spanish clubs then set a record that had no precedent, with dominant years in 2009-2012-2015 and 2016. In 2010, Barcelona became only the second club to occupy all three places, with Messi, Iniesta and Xavi.

  The map of winners has grown narrower. Before 1995, ten leagues supplied winners. Since then, only England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States have done so. Spain's La Liga leads overall with twenty-four wins, split between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Each of those clubs has produced twelve winners, more than any other.

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• 7. The Record Holders

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  Eight is the number that separates Lionel Messi from everyone else. He is the only player to win with three different clubs, and the only one to win while playing outside Europe. His podium record is just as unusual: fourteen top-three finishes, including eleven in a row from 2007 to 2017.

  Cristiano Ronaldo sits second with five wins. He also holds the record for nominations, with eighteen.

  The three-time winners form a different club. Johan Cruyff won once with Ajax in 1971, then twice with Barcelona in 1973 and 1974. Michel Platini won three years running with Juventus, from 1983 to 1985. Marco van Basten won in 1988-1989 and 1992, all with Milan.

  Two-time winners include Di Stéfano, Franz Beckenbauer, Kevin Keegan and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Brazil's Ronaldo completed his pair in 2002 with Real Madrid.

  Messi's eighth came in 2023 with Inter Miami. He collected 462 points, while Erling Haaland of Manchester City was second on 357.

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• 8. Rules Rewritten

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  In 2020, Groupe Amaury, the company that owns France Football, decided that no Ballon d'Or would be given at all. It cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on football. Many have argued that Robert Lewandowski would likely have won. He later finished second in 2021, on 580 points to Messi's 613.

  The 2022 edition came with new rules. Awards would now be based on a football season instead of a calendar year. The vote would also belong to an international jury of specialised journalists. Each country in the top 100 of the latest FIFA Men's World Ranking sends one representative. Since 2007, the vote had been open to all countries.

  Karim Benzema of Real Madrid won that first edition with 549 points. Sadio Mané was second on 193.

  In 2024, UEFA began co-organising the gala, while France Football kept the voting system and the name. Rodri of Manchester City won that year with 1170 points. Vinícius Júnior finished only 41 behind on 1129.

  Ousmane Dembélé of Paris Saint-Germain won the 69th edition in 2025 with 1380 points. Lamine Yamal of Barcelona was second on 1059. Vitinha, Dembélé's club teammate, took third with 703.

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