The Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris will be dressed up for another year to crown the best footballers, coaches and teams with the Ballon d’Or, which has become one of the most prized objects in the world of soccer.
Individual performances and decisive impact on matches are the main criteria for determining the winners. It is important to remember that this award distinguishes the best player of the season (from summer to summer), not of the calendar year (from January to December). The winner is chosen by 100 journalists, representing each country and selected based on the FIFA ranking.
Criterion number 1 focuses on the individual performance of the player; criterion 2 will be the collective performance; and criterion number 3 will refer to the class of the player and his sense of fair play. The criterion of the player’s historical career is eliminated as a form of evaluation. That is, the Ballon d’Or rewards the season, without going into the past career of the players.
Here we remember all the winners of the Ballon d’Or:
Men’s Ballon d’Or Winners
- 2024: Rodri (Spain)
- 2023: Lionel Messi (Argentina)
- 2022: Karim Benzema (France)
- 2021: Lionel Messi
- 2020: No award
- 2019: Lionel Messi
- 2018: Luka Modric (Croatia)
- 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2015: Lionel Messi
- 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2012: Lionel Messi
- 2011: Lionel Messi
- 2010: Lionel Messi
- 2009: Lionel Messi (Argentina)
- 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
- 2007: Kaká (Brazil)
- 2006: Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
- 2005: Ronaldinho (Brazil)
- 2004: Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine)
- 2003: Pavel Nevdev (Czech Republic)
- 2002: Ronaldo
- 2001: Michael Owen (England)
- 2000: Luis Figo (Portugal)
- 1999: Rivaldo (Brazil)
- 1998: Zinedine Zidane (France)
- 1997: Ronaldo (Brazil)
- 1996: Matthias Sammer (Germany)
- 1995: George Weah (Liberia)
- 1994: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria)
- 1993: Roberto Baggio (Italy)
- 1992: Marco Van Basten
- 1991: Jean-Pierre Papin (France)
- 1990: Lothar Matthäus (Germany)
- 1989: Marco Van Basten
- 1988: Marco Van Basten (Netherlands)
- 1987: Ruud Gullit (Netherlands)
- 1986: Igor Belanov (Ukraine)
- 1985: Michel Platini
- 1984: Michel Platini
- 1983: Michel Platini (France)
- 1982: Paolo Rossi (Italy)
- 1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
- 1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Germany)
- 1979: Kevin Keegan
- 1978: Kevin Keegan (England)
- 1977: Allan Simonsen (Denmark)
- 1976: Franz Beckenbauer
- 1975: Oleg Blokhin (Ukraine)
- 1974: Johan Cruyff
- 1973: Johan Cruyff
- 1972: Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
- 1971: Johan Cruyff (Netherlands)
- 1970: Gerd Müller (Germany)
- 1969: Gianni Rivera (Italy)
- 1968: George Best (Northern Ireland)
- 1967: Flórian Albert (Hungary)
- 1966: Bobby Charlton (England)
- 1965: Eusebio (Portugal)
- 1964: Denis Law (Scotland)
- 1963: Lev Yashin (Soviet Union)
- 1962: Josef Masopust (Czech Republic)
- 1961: Enrique Omar Sívori (Argentina/Italy)
- 1960: Luis Suárez (Spain)
- 1959: Alfredo Di Stéfano
- 1958: Raymond Kopa (France)
- 1957: Alfredo Di Stéfano (Argentina/Spain)
- 1956: Stanley Matthews (England)
Women’s Ballon d’Or Winners
- 2024: Aitana Bonmatí
- 2023: Aitana Bonmatí
- 2022: Alexia Putellas
- 2021 Alexia Putellas
- 2020: No award
- 2019: Megan Rapinoe
- 2018: Ada Hegerberg