Ballon d'Or Winners: The Complete History and Biggest Snubs
Football's most prestigious individual award has been handed out since 1956, and its history doubles as a history of the sport's greatest players. It has also produced some genuinely baffling decisions. Here is how the award evolved, who dominated it, and the snubs fans still argue about decades later.
How the Award Started — and Changed
The Ballon d'Or was created by French magazine France Football in 1956, originally open only to European players. That restriction is why Pelé and Maradona — two of the greatest players who ever lived — never won it during their careers, a fact that permanently distorts any "most Ballon d'Or" comparison.
The award opened to any player at a European club in 1995, and then to players worldwide in 2007. It also merged with FIFA's World Player award between 2010 and 2015 before separating again.
The Messi–Ronaldo Era
Between 2008 and 2017, the award belonged entirely to two players. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shared every single Ballon d'Or across that decade — an unprecedented duopoly that reflected how far ahead of everyone else they both were.
Messi has since extended his total to eight, more than any player in history. Ronaldo's five puts him second. No one else in the modern era has come close.
🥇 THE MOST DECORATED
The Eras Before Messi and Ronaldo
The 1960s belonged to players like Eusébio, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. The 1970s were defined by Cruyff's Total Football and Franz Beckenbauer's redefinition of defending. Platini dominated the mid-1980s with three consecutive wins, and Van Basten took three across a career cut short far too early.
The late 1990s and early 2000s produced a run of Brazilian and French winners — Ronaldo Nazário, Rivaldo, Zidane and Ronaldinho among them — in an era where flair was the defining quality.
The Snubs That Still Cause Arguments
Pelé and Maradona — the biggest injustices, though structural rather than deliberate. Both were ineligible during their peaks because of the European-only rule. France Football later published a retrospective list of "honorary" winners acknowledging this.
Wesley Sneijder (2010) — won the treble with Inter Milan and reached the World Cup final with the Netherlands. He finished outside the top three. It remains the most cited modern snub.
Andrés Iniesta (2010) — scored the World Cup-winning goal and was the heart of Spain's dominant era. Never won the award.
Xavi — the metronome of arguably the greatest club side ever assembled, and a World Cup and European Championship winner. Also never won it.
The Structural Bias Toward Attackers
One pattern is impossible to ignore: the award overwhelmingly goes to forwards and attacking midfielders. Defenders have won it only rarely, and goalkeepers almost never. Whether that reflects genuine value or simply the visibility of goals is one of football's longest-running debates.
It also explains several of the great snubs — players like Iniesta and Xavi were essential to everything their teams achieved without producing the goal numbers voters reward.
What the Award Actually Measures
The criteria have shifted over the decades between individual brilliance, team success, and single-tournament performances. That inconsistency is why comparing totals across eras is imperfect — a Ballon d'Or in 1965 was judged very differently from one in 2025.
What it does reliably capture is who football's decision-makers considered the best player of a given year, which makes the full list a fascinating record of how the sport's values have changed.
Test Your Ballon d'Or Knowledge
Most fans can name the recent winners. Naming who won in 1972, or which defender broke the attacker monopoly, is where genuine football knowledge shows. Our quiz covers awards, records and legends across every era.