BALLON d'OR

The Ballon d'Or is an annual award presented by French news magazine France Football that is one ofthe oldest and generally regarded as the most prestigious individual award for football players. It has been awarded since 1956, although between 2010 and 2015, an agreement was made with FIFA, and the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year by 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 organisations. This year's winner was Lionel Messi (PSG), of course. He has won this since 2009, 7 times and has been runners up 5 times and third, once.

Ronaldo has the following awards: 5 x 1st, 6 x second, third once. Kevin Keegan has won 1978/9 and runner up 1977. Bobby Charlton winner 1966 (runners up 1967/8). George Best 1968. 

Between 1987-95 no English player was offered as a potential top three candidate and from 2006-21, the same. Overall, 18 English footballers appeared in the top three "winners". There have been 65 awards from 1st to 3rd since 1956.

Conceived by sports writer Gabriel Hanot, the Ballon d'Or award honours the male player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on voting by football journalists, from 1956 to 2006. After 2007, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote. Originally, it was awarded only to players from Europe and widely known as the European Footballer of the Year award. In 1995, the Ballon d'Or was expanded to include all players from 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.

There was no award in 2020 due to Covid.

Stanley Matthews of England was the inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or. Second was Alfredo di Stefano of Spain and 3rd was Raymond Kopa of France.

Wins by player:

Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Lionel Messi won a combined 12 out of 13 times from 2008 to 2021.

Michel Platini won three years running (1983-85).

Johan Cruyff (left) and Marco van Basten, both of the Netherlands, each won three times.

Note: One-time winners are only included if they have also finished second or third in another year.

Player	Winner	Second place	Third place
Lionel Messi	7 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021)	5 (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)	1 (2007)
Cristiano Ronaldo	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)

2021     1st Argentina: Lionel Messi  Paris Saint-Germain 

             2nd Poland: Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich

             3rd Italy: Jorginho Chelsea