Ballon d'Or winners: Who won the most? Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and others

Author Photo
Lionel Messi with Ballon d'Or trophies
Getty Images

The Ballon d'Or award is considered the most prestigious individual award in football, synonymous with the title of best player in the world.

The list of previous winners is a veritable honor roll of superstars past and present. Winning a Ballon d'Or trophy is considered the apex of individual success over the course of any footballer's career.

But to win multiple editions of the iconic Golden Ball is the stuff of legends. In fact, there are only 10 players who have ever done it and their names are ones any football fan would recognize.

The Sporting News looks back at these previous honorees — and it's clear how high the bar is for what players must achieve to get their hands on the Ballon d'Or. It is an exclusive club.

MORE: Ballon d'Or vs FIFA's The Best awards: Explaining the differences, history, and which one is bigger

Who has won the most Ballon d'Or awards?

The player with the most Ballon d'Or awards of all-time is Lionel Messi who has won it eight times. Behind him is Messi's long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo with five Ballons d'Or.

Only 10 players all-time have claimed multiple Ballon d'Or awards. There have been 34 other players who have claimed the Ballon d'Or once in their career.

Rank Player Ballon d'Or
wins
Years won
1. Lionel Messi 8 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,
2015, 2019, 2021, 2023
2. Cristiano Ronaldo 5 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016,
2017
3. Michel Platini 3 1983, 1984, 1985
  Johan Cruyff 3 1971, 1973, 1974
  Marco van Basten 3 1988, 1989, 1992
6. Franz Beckenbauer 2 1972, 1976
  Ronaldo 2 1997, 2002
  Alfredo Di Stefano 2 1957, 1959
  Kevin Keegan 2 1978, 1979
  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 2 1980, 1981
Lionel Messi Ballon d'Or

MORE: Who were the 2022 Ballon d'Or nominees? All the finalists

Men's Ballon d'Or winners

The first Ballon d'Or was awarded in 1956 to Blackpool legend Stanley Matthews, one of the greats of the English game.

Dutch giant Johan Cruyff became the first player to win it three times in the 1970s. French star Michel Platini won it three times in a row — the first to achieve that feat — in the 80's.

Messi won the 2021 Ballon d'Or, beating out Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho by a narrow margin for his seventh trophy. He finished ahead of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe two years later.

Messi and Ronaldo have won 13 of the last 14 Ballon d'Or awards, with only Luka Modric capable of stopping that run in 2018. Those were the only three active players to have won a Ballon d'Or before being joined by Karim Benzema in 2022.

Year Player Club
1956 Stanley Matthews Blackpool
1957 Alfredo Di Stefano Real Madrid
1958 Raymond Kopa Real Madrid
1959 Alfredo Di Stefano Real Madrid
1960 Luis Suarez Barcelona
1961 Omar Sivori Juventus
1962 Josef Masopust Dukla Prague
1963 Lev Yashin Dynamo Moscow
1964 Denis Law Manchester United
1965 Eusebio Benfica
1966 Bobby Charlton Manchester United
1967 Florian Albert Ferencvaros
1968 George Best Manchester United
1969 Gianni Rivera AC Milan
1970 Gerd Muller Bayern Munich
1971 Johann Cruyff Ajax
1972 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich
1973 Johann Cruyff Barcelona
1974 Johann Cruyff Barcelona
1975 Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv
1976 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich
1977 Allan Simonsen Gladbach
1978 Kevin Keegan Hamburg
1979 Kevin Keegan Hamburg
1980 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Bayern Munich
1981 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Bayern Munich
1982 Paolo Rossi Juventus
1983 Michel Platini Juventus
1984 Michel Platini Juventus
1985 Michel Platini Juventus
1986 Igor Belanov Dynamo Kyiv
1987 Ruud Gullit AC Milan
1988 Marco van Basten AC Milan
1989 Marco van Basten AC Milan
1990 Lothar Matthaus Inter Milan
1991 Jean-Pierre Papin Marseille
1992 Marco van Basten AC Milan
1993 Roberto Baggio Juventus
1994 Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona
1995 George Weah AC Milan
1996 Mathias Sammer Borussia Dortmund
1997 Ronaldo Inter Milan
1998 Zinedine Zidane Juventus
1999 Rivaldo Barcelona
2000 Luis Figo Real Madrid
2001 Michael Owen Liverpool
2002 Ronaldo Real Madrid
2003 Pavel Nedved Juventus
2004 Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan
2005 Ronaldinho Barcelona
2006 Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid
2007 Kaka AC Milan
2008 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United
2009 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2010 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2011 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2012 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2013 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2015 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2016 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2017 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
2018 Luka Modric Real Madrid
2019 Lionel Messi Barcelona
2020
2021 Lionel Messi PSG
2022 Karim Benzema Real Madrid
2023 Lionel Messi PSG/Inter Miami

The women's Ballon d'Or has been awarded since 2018 with the 2020 event cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ballon d'Or Feminin

Year Player Club
2018 Ada Hegerberg Lyon
2019 Megan Rapinoe OL Reign
2020
2021 Alexia Putellas Barcelona
2022 Alexia Putellas Barcelona
2023 Aitana Bonmati Barcelona

What is the Ballon d'Or?

The Ballon d'Or, which translates from French to "Golden Ball", is the most prestigious individual award in world football, honoring the best men's and women's player across the globe for that season.

The award was started by French publication France Football in 1956, and has been awarded every season since, except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ballon d'Or was absorbed by FIFA in 2010 as part of a six-year partnership that ran through 2015. At that time it reverted back to France Football's sole ownership, with FIFA launching its own end-of-season player honors, The Best FIFA Football Awards. UEFA entered a new partnership with the French publication for the award from 2024.

The Ballon d'Or had historically recognized player performance over the course of a calendar year, but that has recently changed to align more closely with the European club season calendar.

It means that, as Messi sought his eighth win, the 36-year-old's performances that helped Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain to respective World Cup and Ligue 1 glory will have been taken into account but not his goal-laden start to life at Inter Miami.

Author(s)
Author Photo
Kyle Bonn is a soccer content producer for The Sporting News.
LATEST VIDEOS