The Most Significant Ballon d’Or Winners, Male and Female!

The world of football is full of incredible teams and players who have won the highest recognition and the most amazing awards and tournaments. Clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester City, or AC Milan top the rankings as the teams with the most honor in the European context, and players like Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Fabio Cannavaro, George Weah, and Bobby Charlton are often mentioned as the best players in the history of this sport.

Still, the highest honor in football is the Ballon d’Or, the award that prizes the best footballer of the year. Winning this prize means the football player’s name will be in the annals of history forever, so winning is the highest honor in the career of professional footballers.

But, who tops the list of Ballon d’Or winners? Who are the footballers who have been recognized with the Golden Ball as the best player of the year? Not going further, let’s check it out!

Table of Contents:

• The Most Significant Ballon d’Or Winners, Male and Female!
• What Is the Ballon d’Or?
• Who Are the Greatest Ballon d’Or Winners?
• Some Winners of the Ballon d’Or Féminin
• Win the Ballon d’Or Award with FootballTeam

What Is the Ballon d’Or?

The Ballon d’Or is the main prize in the world of football for individual players whose goal is to highlight their achievements and talent of the past year. It is given by the French Magazine France Football and has a history that goes back to 1956. In this first edition, Stanley Matthews was the first footballer to win this prize.

Who Are the Greatest Ballon d’Or Winners?

In this section, we discuss some of the best winners of the men’s Ballon d’Or of modern football. Most of them are very famous, but others will surprise you.

Lionel Messi

Everyone who is immersed in the world of football knows that Lionel Messi, the current star of Inter Miami from the United States, is one of the best players in football history and the player with the most Ballon d’Or awards.

At the moment of writing, the Argentine has won eight Ballons d’Or (who knows if he will win another Golden Ball in the future), and each of them is well-deserved since he has won all the tournaments that a great player can win, including four Champions League and one FIFA World Cup.

Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or prize in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023. Messi won most of these prizes, 8 in total, when playing for Barcelona FC, the club that witnessed him grow and develop. After this, Messi played for Paris Saint Germain, but he did not win relevant prizes or tournaments with the French club.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo, with an impressive six Ballon d’Or awards, including a Ballon d’Or Dream Team honor, is undeniably second on the list of all-time greats. Even at 40 years old, Ronaldo continues to defy expectations and remains one of the world’s best players. Currently playing for Al-Nassr, one of the wealthiest clubs globally, the G.O.A.T. shows no signs of slowing down.

Cristiano Ronaldo, with 924 goals and 5 Champions League titles at the time of writing, is the top goal scorer in the history of the sport, both at club and national team levels. CR7’s moniker, Mr. Champions, and the opinion of many football fans that he is the best player of all time are well-deserved.

This star player has impressively won this prestigious award multiple times, including an amazing four consecutive wins in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. There’s nothing more to say about this five-time winner!

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are at the top of this list for obvious reasons!

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane, one of the best European football players of the past century, is a highly regarded representative of French football and an exceptional coach. He has achieved nearly every accolade in the sport, including the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2002 UEFA Champions League while playing for Real Madrid’s “Lo Galácticos” in the early 2000s.

In 1998, after leading France to its first-ever FIFA World Cup victory, Zidane received the Ballon d’Or, the highest individual honor in football. His remarkable performance during the tournament also earned him the title of the best European player of the century.

His path through Real Madrid and Juventus was full of elegance, impressive passes, and out-of-this-world goals. Who does not remember his volley goal in the 2002 Champions League final, probably one of the best goals in football history?

Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff is another great European player of the past century. Many specialists and enthusiasts say that Cruyff is the best footballer of the 20th century, and reasons abound!

Not going further, the Dutch won three Ballon d’Ors in the decade of 1970 (1971, 1973, and 1974), when playing for Ajax (the first one), and two consecutive when playing for Barcelona FC. He also won a Bronze Ballon in 1975, as the third-best player of that year, which is still a good prize, especially when considering that players such as Franz Beckenbauer, Kevin Keegan, and Oleg Blokhin were playing in the same years.

This talented player won three European Cups, one Copa del Rey of Spain, six Dutch Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup. He also has an interesting career as a coach, especially in Barcelona FC, by creating the club’s identity that we would see in the subsequent years. I’m talking about the famous tiki-taka, a football style that emphasizes the touch of the balloon and association among players. This style of play would be deepened further by Pep Guardiola.

Marco Van Basten

Marco Van Basten, a legendary Dutch striker, is fondly remembered by football fans worldwide for his remarkable plays during the early 1990s.

Similar to Johan Cruyff, Van Basten was an exceptional player who won three Ballon d’Or awards in 1988, 1989, and 1992, establishing himself as the world’s best footballer during those years.

Although he played for both Ajax and AC Milan, it was with the Italian club that Van Basten achieved his three Ballon d’Or victories. The AC Milan team from 1988 to 1990, which included stars like Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, and Van Basten, is widely regarded as one of the greatest squads in football history.

Unfortunately, Van Basten’s career was cut short at the age of 28 due to a severe ankle injury. Despite his early retirement, many football experts and players consider him the best forward of all time. His extraordinary goals, which were often considered near-impossible, could only be replicated by a select few other football geniuses, such as Alfredo di Stéfano, Luis Suárez, and Paolo Rossi.

Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio is another legend of AC Milan, although the Italian also played in other crucial clubs, such as Vicenza, Fiorentina, and Juventus. It was playing for “La Vecchia Signora” when Baggio touched the top of global football, awarding the Golden Ball after winning the UEFA Europa League, in 1993.

Unfortunately, Roberto Baggio is mostly known for the final of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which was celebrated in the United States. On that occasion, Italy faced Brazil in a thrilling match that ended 0:0. Roberto Baggio, the star of the Italian national team, was in charge of kicking the last penalty. Sadly, the Italian sent the ball over the crossbar. Due to this, Italy lost the final, which left an indelible mark on Baggio’s career.

Despite this fact, Roberto Baggio still is considered a crucial striker in the history of Italian football, at the same level as Francesco Totti, Paolo Rossi, Giuseppe Meazza, Gianni Rivera, and Alessandro del Piero.

Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema’s relationship with the French national team is strained, to say the least. This was so contentious that he was left off the team for the last two World Cups, including France’s championship run in 2018.

Regardless of these controversies, Benzema has been one of the most efficient strikers of the last few years, playing for Real Madrid and becoming a true star. After Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid, Benzema fought to become the new striker and star of “La Casa Blanca,” and he achieved it with flying colors.

The French won the Ballon d’Or in 2022 because Benzema was the main reason Real Madrid won its fourteenth Champions League. That season, Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 matches and 15 assists. He also won the Pichichi Trophy, as the highest scorer in La Liga, with 27 goals.

Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho is synonymous with magic, talent, inspiration, and skills. For many years, the Brazilian has been considered the magician of football, a true player with abilities like no one else. This is true and easy to prove, just by watching his matches and impressive plays.

Ronaldinho excelled especially in Barcelona and AC Milan, clubs where he delighted fans from all over the world with his magical moves and creativity. He also shined with the Brazil national team, reaching glory when they won the 2002 FIFA World Cup against Germany.

Ronaldinho was decorated with this prize after winning La Liga Santander in 2005 and the Confederation Cup with his national team. The Brazilian took the edge against players such as Frank Lampard and Steve Gerrard. This way, Ronaldinho was the third Brazilian to take the Golden Ball to his house, after Ronaldo Nazario and Rivaldo.

Michael Owen

Michael Owen is remembered as one of the crucial players of the English national team in the last years of the century. The team achieved important results with players of the caliber of David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, and Owen himself.

Michael Owen has an impressive record. He’s the second-youngest football player in history to win the Ballon d’Or, having won it in 2001 at the age of twenty-one. The English surpassed other impressive players such as Raúl González and Oliver Kahn.

Owen mainly played in English teams, highlighting his path through Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Manchester United. With “The Red Devils,” Owen used the classic 7 jersey after Cristiano Ronaldo made the position available.

The English retired from football at thirty-four years old, after a short journey through Stoke City. Owen is widely loved by English football fans and remembered as an extraordinary striker who is worthy of mention.

Some Winners of the Ballon d’Or Féminin

Although the Ballon d’Or Feminin is not as well-known as the masculine prize, it’s still an impressive recognition of football talent.

Megan Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe is one of the most famous women’s Ballon d’Or winners and a former star of the United States national team. Rapino is not only famous due to her hair color, attitude, and social rights support, but she was also the first woman in football to win the Best FIFA award, in 2019, and the Ballon d’Or feminine the same year.

Rapinoe was a great American midfielder who helped the American national team win the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, the Olympic Games of 2012, and second place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011.

Alexia Putellas

Alexia Putellas was the second female football player to win the Best FIFA award, in 2021, and the Ballon d’Or feminine the same year, after Megan Rapinoe. Patella is Spanish and currently plays for Barcelona FC as a midfielder, being the creative mind behind crucial plays of the Catalan Club.

In 2023, Alexia Putellas was awarded a second time as the best female player worldwide. Thus, she became the first female footballer to win this prize twice and was recognized as one of the most creative and talented players in the sport’s history.

With Barcelona FC, Putellas has twenty-four titles, including three Champions League trophies, eight league titles, and eight Queens Cup titles. This Spanish female player is undoubtedly one of the best in modern football.

Aitana Bonmatí

Unlike previous female footballers, Aitana Bonmatí plays as a midfielder forward. Still, just like Putellas, she currently plays for Barcelona FC, a team where she has achieved impressive results. The Catalan has won five league titles, five Queen’s Cups, four Supercups, and three Champions Leagues, which is awesome even for male players!

Bonmatí has Ballon d’Ors to her credit, winning this prize in 2023 and 2024, after two magnificent performances with the Catalan club. Bonmatí has been also included among the 100 most influential women in the world by the BBC.

Aitana Bonmatí is the undisputed leader and captain of the Spanish female national team, obtaining the runner-up of the Coupe du Monde Féminine U-20 de la FIFA, France 2018, and the championship in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia/New Zealand 2023.

I know the Ballon d’Or Feminin is so recent that it does not provoke the same sensation and excitement among football fans, but still, it has won a lot of attention and recognition in past years. I honestly hope that this prize will continue gaining popularity and that more people will start watching female football!

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