Ballon d'Or
The Ballon d'Or (French pronunciation: [balɔ̃ dɔʁ] ; 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.
Ballon d'Or | ||
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Ballon d'Or trophy | ||
Location | Paris, France | |
Presented by | France Football | |
First awarded | 18 December 1956 | |
Currently held by | Lionel Messi (8th award) | |
Most awards | Lionel Messi (8 awards)[1] | |
Most nominations | Cristiano Ronaldo (18 nominations)[1] | |
Website | francefootball.fr | |
Related | Ballon d'Or Féminin | |
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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.[2] 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.[3][4] The award became a global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible;[5] additionally, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote.[2]
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. The recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d'Or are considered as winners by both award organizations.[2][6][7] 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 countries from the top 100 of the FIFA Men's World Ranking would be allowed to vote.[8] 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.
Lionel Messi won the award a record eight times, and he is also the current holder of the Ballon d'Or, having won its most recent edition in 2023. Cristiano Ronaldo has won it five times and amassed a record eighteen nominations in his career.[1] Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten each won the award three times, while Franz Beckenbauer, Ronaldo, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Kevin Keegan and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge have each won it twice.[9]
History
The Ballon d'Or has historically been regarded as football's most prestigious and valuable individual award.[9][10][11] Nevertheless, critics have occasionally described the award as a "popularity contest", criticizing its voting process, its bias in favour of attacking players, and for the idea of systematically singling out an individual in a team sport.[note 1][2]
Stanley Matthews of England was the inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or.[9][18] 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.[19][20][21][22] 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.[4][23] Ronaldo of Brazil became the first South American winner two years later.[4]
Lionel Messi has won the award a record eight times, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with five.[1][11] Messi is the only player in history to win the award with three different teams and also the only one to win it while playing outside Europe.[24] He is also the player with the most podiums, finishing in the top-three a record fourteen times.[11] Three players have won the award three times each: Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten.[1][9] With seven awards each, Dutch, German, Portuguese and French players have won the second most Ballons d'Or, underneath Argentina in first with eight.[23] Players from Germany (1972, 1981) and the Netherlands (1988) occupied the top-three spots in a single year (a feat achieved only three times in history). 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 unforeseen dominance (2009–2012, 2015, 2016) and Barcelona (2010) became the second club to occupy the top-three. Two Spanish clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, also lead the ranking for producing the most winners, with twelve wins each.[25]
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.[26] 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.[27]
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.[28] The widespread public opinion is that the 2020 award should have been given to Robert Lewandowski.[29][30][31]
The award shows a bias in favour of attacking players, which has increased in recent years, especially after 2007.[2] Over time, the award has gone to a more exclusive set of leagues and clubs.[2] 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 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 2022, France Football modified the rules for the Ballon d'Or. They changed the timing so that awards were given not for achievements during a calendar year, but for a football season.[8] It was also decided that only those countries in the top 100 of the FIFA World Ranking would be allowed to vote. The plebiscite had previously been open to all countries since 2007. 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.[8]
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]
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.[33]
‡ | This indicates the Ballon d'Or winning player also won the FIFA World Player of the Year (1991–2009) or The Best FIFA Men's Player award (2016–present) in the same year |
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Wins by player
Player | Winner | Runner-up | Third place |
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Lionel Messi[note 35] | 8 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023) | 5 (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) | 1 (2007) |
Cristiano Ronaldo[note 36] | 5 (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) | 6 (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018) | 1 (2019) |
Michel Platini | 3 (1983, 1984, 1985) | — | 2 (1977, 1980) |
Johan Cruyff | 3 (1971, 1973, 1974) | — | 1 (1975) |
Marco van Basten | 3 (1988, 1989, 1992) | — | — |
Franz Beckenbauer | 2 (1972, 1976) | 2 (1974, 1975) | 1 (1966) |
Ronaldo | 2 (1997, 2002) | 1 (1996) | 1 (1998) |
Alfredo Di Stéfano | 2 (1957, 1959) | 1 (1956) | — |
Kevin Keegan | 2 (1978, 1979) | 1 (1977) | — |
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | 2 (1980, 1981) | 1 (1979) | — |
Luis Suárez | 1 (1960) | 2 (1961, 1964) | 1 (1965) |
Eusébio | 1 (1965) | 2 (1962, 1966) | — |
Bobby Charlton | 1 (1966) | 2 (1967, 1968) | — |
Raymond Kopa | 1 (1958) | 1 (1959) | 2 (1956, 1957) |
Gerd Müller | 1 (1970) | 1 (1972) | 2 (1969, 1973) |
Zinedine Zidane | 1 (1998) | 1 (2000) | 1 (1997) |
Gianni Rivera | 1 (1969) | 1 (1963) | — |
Ruud Gullit | 1 (1987) | 1 (1988) | — |
Lothar Matthäus | 1 (1990) | 1 (1991) | — |
Roberto Baggio | 1 (1993) | 1 (1994) | — |
Hristo Stoichkov | 1 (1994) | 1 (1992) | — |
Andriy Shevchenko | 1 (2004) | — | 2 (1999, 2000) |
George Best | 1 (1968) | — | 1 (1971) |
Allan Simonsen | 1 (1977) | — | 1 (1983) |
Ronaldinho | 1 (2005) | — | 1 (2004) |
Stanley Matthews | 1 (1956) | — | — |
Omar Sivori | 1 (1961) | — | — |
Josef Masopust | 1 (1962) | — | — |
Lev Yashin | 1 (1963) | — | — |
Denis Law | 1 (1964) | — | — |
Flórián Albert | 1 (1967) | — | — |
Oleg Blokhin | 1 (1975) | — | — |
Paolo Rossi | 1 (1982) | — | — |
Igor Belanov | 1 (1986) | — | — |
Jean-Pierre Papin | 1 (1991) | — | — |
George Weah | 1 (1995) | — | — |
Matthias Sammer | 1 (1996) | — | — |
Rivaldo | 1 (1999) | — | — |
Luís Figo | 1 (2000) | — | — |
Michael Owen | 1 (2001) | — | — |
Pavel Nedvěd | 1 (2003) | — | — |
Fabio Cannavaro | 1 (2006) | — | — |
Kaká | 1 (2007) | — | — |
Luka Modrić | 1 (2018) | — | — |
Karim Benzema | 1 (2022) | — | — |
Wins by country
Country | Players | Wins |
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Argentina | 1 | 8 |
France | 5 | 7 |
Germany | 5 | 7 |
Netherlands | 3 | 7 |
Portugal | 3 | 7 |
Italy | 5 | 5 |
Brazil | 4 | 5 |
England | 4 | 5 |
Soviet Union | 3 | 3 |
Spain | 2 | 3 |
Bulgaria | 1 | 1 |
Croatia | 1 | 1 |
Czech Republic | 1 | 1 |
Czechoslovakia | 1 | 1 |
Denmark | 1 | 1 |
Hungary | 1 | 1 |
Liberia | 1 | 1 |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 1 |
Scotland | 1 | 1 |
Ukraine | 1 | 1 |