The Ballon d’Or is a prestigious individual recognition given to the best footballer of the calendar year. The award is handed out by France Football magazine.
While we do remember the recent award winners, have you had the chance to look at every Ballon d’Or winner since the award was incepted in 1956?
Well, we’re here to help!
BestofBets take a look!
*The format below is in “Year/Player/Club at that time”
Every Ballon d’Or winner from 1956 to 2022
- 1956: Stanley Matthews (Blackpool)
- 1957: Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid)
- 1958: Raymond Kopa (Real Madrid)
- 1959: Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid)
- 1960: Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
- 1961: Omar Sivori (Juventus)
- 1962: Josef Masopust (Dukla Prague)
- 1963: Lev Yashin (Dynamo Moscow)
- 1964: Denis Law (Manchester United)
- 1965: Eusebio (Benfica)
- 1966: Bobby Charlton (Manchester United)
- 1967: Florian Albert (Ferencvaros)
- 1968: George Best (Manchester United)
- 1969: Gianni Rivera (AC Milan)
- 1970: Gerd Muller (Bayern Munich)
- 1971: Johan Cruyff (Ajax)
- 1972: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)
- 1973: Johan Cruyff (Barcelona)
- 1974: Johan Cruyff (Barcelona)
- 1975: Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv)
- 1976: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)
- 1977: Allan Simonsen (Borussia Monchengladbach)
- 1978: Kevin Keegan (Hamburg)
- 1979: Kevin Keegan (Hamburg)
- 1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich)
- 1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich)
- 1982: Paolo Rossi (Juventus)
- 1983: Michel Platini (Juventus)
- 1984: Michel Platini (Juventus)
- 1985: Michel Platini (Juventus)
- 1986: Igor Belanov (Dynamo Kyiv)
- 1987: Ruud Gullit (AC Milan)
- 1988: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
- 1989: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
- 1990: Lothar Matthaus (Internazionale)
- 1991: Jean-Pierre Papin (Marseille)
- 1992: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
- 1993: Roberto Baggio (Juventus)
- 1994: Hristo Stoichkov (Barcelona)
- 1995: George Weah (AC Milan)
- 1996: Matthias Sammer (Borussia Dortmund)
- 1997: Ronaldo (Internazionale)
- 1998: Zinedine Zidane (Juventus)
- 1999: Rivaldo (Barcelona)
- 2000: Luis Figo (Real Madrid)
- 2001: Michael Owen (Liverpool)
- 2002: Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 2003: Pavel Nedved (Juventus)
- 2004: Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)
- 2005: Ronaldinho (Barcelona)
- 2006: Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid)
- 2007: Kaka (Milan)
- 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
- 2009: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2010: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2011: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2012: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 2015: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 2018: Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
- 2019: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2020: Cancelled
- 2021: Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
- 2022: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
The 2023 version of the Ballon d’Or is expected to be held in October with newly-crowned World Cup winner Lionel Messi set to win an unprecedented eighth Ballon d’Or!
You can check more of our content like this on BestofBets’ football section.
