Ballon d’Or Winners Since 1956 (Full List)

Ballon d’Or winners are considered the best football players in the world. This is because the award is an annual football award given to the best player in the previous year. Ballon d’Or was first awarded in 1956 with Stanley Matthews from England bagging the maiden award.

The award is presented by the French news magazine, “France Football“. It was temporarily merged with the “FIFA World Player of the Year” between 2010 and 2015. In 2016, both awards were separated again, and the Ballon d’Or awards recipients between 2010 – 2015 were considered the best players by both award organizations.

Ballon d’Or was previously awarded to male football players who were selected via voting by football journalists. From 2007 however, captains and coaches of national football teams were allowed to vote also. The award initially awarded to players from Europe now features players from all continents.

Since 2018, the Ballon d’Or award has also been given to women. The women’s award is called “Ballon d’Or Féminin“.

Who has the most Ballon d’Or Award?

Since its inception in 1956, Ballon d’Or has had very few football players who have won the award severally. Some of these players include top stars, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, the footballer with the most Ballons d’Or is Lionel Messi. Messi has won the best male player of the year award seven times in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2021 respectively.

Coming behind him is his perceived competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo who has won the award five times.

Full List of Ballon d’Or Winners Since 1956

The table below contains the full list of Ballon d’Or winners since its inception in 1956. Spot your faves!

Ballon d’Or 2022 Shortlist

The 2022 edition of the Ballon d’Or award is upcoming and the likely winners have been shortlisted. 7-time winner, Lionel Messi is not on the list this time but other previous winners like Ronaldo and Modric made it to the list. Here are the players shortlisted for the 2022 Ballon d’Or.

• Thibaut Courtois- Real Madrid
• Rafael Leao- AC Milan
• Christopher Nkunku- RB Leipzig
• Mohamed Salah- Liverpool
• Joshua Kimmich- Bayern Munich
• Trent Alexander-Arnold- Liverpool
• Vinicius Junior- Real Madrid
• Bernardo Silva- Manchester City
• Luis Diaz- Porto/Liverpool
• Robert Lewandowski- Bayern Munich/Barcelona
• Riyad Mahrez- Manchester City
• Casemiro- Real Madrid
• Son Heung-min- Tottenham Hotspur
• Fabinho- Liverpool
• Karim Benzema- Real Madrid
• Mike Maignan- AC Milan
• Harry Kane- Tottenham Hotspur
• Darwin Nunez- Benfica/Liverpool
• Phil Foden- Manchester City
• Sadio Mane- Liverpool/Bayern Munich
• Sebastien Haller- Ajax/Borussia Dortmund
• Luka Modric- Real Madrid
• Antonio Rudiger- Chelsea/Real Madrid
• Cristiano Ronaldo- Manchester United

• Kevin de Bruyne- Manchester City
• Dusan Vlahovic- Fiorentina/Juventus
• Virgil van Dijk- Liverpool
• Joao Cancelo- Manchester City
• Kylian Mbappe- Paris Saint-Germain
• Erling Haaland- Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City