Ballon d'Or

Stanley Matthews of Blackpool was the inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or.[6] Prior to 2007, the award was generally known as the continental European Footballer of the Year award in English language and much international media. Even after 2007, it was usually identified with and referred to by that name because of its origin as a European award, until it was merged with FIFA's World Player award cementing its new worldwide claim.[7][8][9][10] Milan'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 for the first time.[4] Ronaldo of Internazionale became the first South American winner two years later.[4] The second rule change in 2007 to include players from all continents did not bring up new winners, as all recipients since then have still exclusively been active in Europe during their win.

Lionel Messi has won the award a record six times while playing for Barcelona, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won five (one with Manchester United and four with Real Madrid). Three players have won the award three times each: Johan Cruyff of Ajax and Barcelona, Michel Platini of Juventus, and Marco van Basten of Milan. With seven awards each, Dutch, German, and Portuguese players have won the most Ballons d'Or. Players from Germany (1972, 1981) and the Netherlands (1988) were the only to take all three top spots in one year, with German (1972) and especially Italian clubs (1988–1990) achieving the same feat, including two years solely made up of AC Milan players (1988, 1989), a unique record until Spanish clubs experienced an unforeseen dominance (2009–2012, 2015, 2016) and Barcelona (2010) became the second club with three top players. Two Spanish clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, also lead the ranking for employing the most winners, with twelve and eleven wins.[11]

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, which was awarded to the world's best male player before FIFA and France Football decided not to continue the merging agreement.[12] 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.[13]

Eight players (Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Paolo Rossi, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaká) have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or during their careers.[14]

The award shows a bias in favor of attacking players, which has increased in recent decades.[2] Over time, the award has gone to a more exclusive set of leagues and clubs.[2] Prior to 1995, 10 leagues supplied Ballon d'Or winners, whereas only England, Germany, Italy, and Spain have supplied winners since 1995.[2] Spain's La Liga has the most Ballon d'Or winners.[2] Barcelona and Real Madrid have supplied the most Ballon d'Or winners since 1995.[2]

In 2020, the Group L'Équipe, to which France Football belongs, decided that no award would be given for the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic cutting short the seasons of football clubs worldwide.[15]

An honorary award, under the name Super Ballon d'Or, was awarded to Alfredo Di Stéfano in 1989, after he surpassed Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini in France Football's voting.[18]

A decade later, France Football elected Pelé the Football Player of the Century after consulting their former Ballon d'Or recipients. Among the 34 previous winners, 30 cast their votes; Stanley Matthews, Omar Sívori and George Best abstained, 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 runner-up, Diego Maradona.[19]

Football Player of the Century

Player	Pts	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Pelé	122	17	5	4	2	1
Diego Maradona	65	3	6	5	5	1
Johan Cruyff	62	1	4	7	9	2
Alfredo Di Stéfano	44	4	3	3	1	1
Michel Platini	40	1	5	1	3	6

To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, France Football published a reevaluation of the awards presented before 1995, when only European players were eligible to win the award. 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. The original recipients, however, remain unchanged.[20]

Maradona and Pelé also received honorary Ballons d'Ors for their services to football in 1995 and 2013, respectively.[21][22]

Le nouveau palmarès (internationalized reevaluation)

Year	Original winner	Alternative
1958	Raymond Kopa	Pelé
1959	Alfredo Di Stéfano	Pelé
1960	Luis Suárez	Pelé
1961	Omar Sívori	Pelé
1962	Josef Masopust	Garrincha
1963	Lev Yashin	Pelé
1964	Denis Law	Pelé
1970	Gerd Müller	Pelé
1978	Kevin Keegan	Mario Kempes
1986	Igor Belanov	Diego Maradona
1990	Lothar Matthäus	Diego Maradona
1994	Hristo Stoichkov	Romário

• FIFA World Player of the Year
• FIFA Ballon d'Or
• The Best FIFA Men's Player
• The Best FIFA Football Awards
• FIFPro World11
• Ballon d'Or Féminin

• "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or")". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 9 October 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
• "La liste complête des lauréats du Ballon d'or, de 1956 à nos jours". France Football. Retrieved 24 March 2015.