The Ballon d’Or (French pronunciation “Golden Ball”) is an annual football award presented by France Football. 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, and known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
However, the partnership ended in 2016 and the award was reverted back to Ballon d’Or, while FIFA also reverted to its own separate annual award (now named The Best FIFA Men’s Player). 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.
Originally it was an award for the players from Europe. 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 global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible.
Stanley Matthews of Blackpool was the inaugural winner of the Ballon d’Or. Prior to 1995, the award was often known in English language as the European Footballer of the Year award. Milan’s George Weah, the only African recipient, became the first non-European to win the award. Ronaldo of Inter Milan became the first South American winner two years later.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have won the award a record of five times each. Three players have won the award three times each: Johan Cruyff of Ajax and Barcelona, Michel Platini of Juventus and Marco Van Basten of Milan. With seven awards each, Dutch, German and Portuguese players won the most Ballons d’Or.
Only Germany (1972) and the Netherlands (1988) took all three top spots in one year. Two Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid share top for employing the most winners, with eleven wins each. Between 2010 and 2015 inclusive, the award was emerged 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 broke the merging agreement.
After 2011, UEFA created the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award to maintain the format of the original Ballon d’Or. Eight players (Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Paolo Rossi, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka) have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Cup/UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d’Or during their careers.
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