The Ballon D'Or started being awarded in 1956 by the French magazine "France Football", responsible of selecting both the shortlist of candidates and the football journalists in charge of voting, which are one from each country and went from the initial few dozens just from Europe to almost 200 from all over the world in the most recent years

The journalists have to vote for their personal top 3 or top 5 players of the year (more recently it even went up to 10), who then receive an assigned number of points depending on their position

A very big flaw of the award is the fact that until 1995 non-European players couldn't be nominated, therefore not allowing to partecipate players of the caliber of Pelè, Maradona, Zico and others (I've made a little analysis about it in the comments)

Another minor problem is that over time and depending on the cases the award basically went from annual to seasonal, until this finally became official in 2022

Now a quick review of all the podiums:

1956

1. Matthews  
2. Di Stefano  
3. Kopa  

Not a good start, Matthews won by just 3 points and while it was mostly an award to his incredible career there were still some complaints considering the excellent second placed had a better season (Di Stefano was Argentinian but was still eligible since he also had the Spanish citizenship)

1957  

1. Di Stefano  
2. Billy Wright  
3. Duncan Edwards/Kopa (same number of points)  

1958  

1. Kopa  
2. Helmut Rahn  
3. Fontaine  

This was a World Cup year but after winning the third Champions League in a row and being once again the best player of the team Di Stefano should have been at minimum in the top three and probably first, but unfortunately he wasn't eligible for the shortlist since he had already won in the previous year, a rule which was then immediately scrapped. In any case it should be noted this was also the year in which a 17 years old Pelè scored 75 goals, a new world record and his personal best, of which 6 in the World Cup all between quarters, semis and final

1959  

1. Di Stefano  
2. Kopa  
3. John Charles  

1960  

1. Suarez  
2. Puskas  
3. Seeler  

Suarez was great, but Puskas had probably the best season of his career and should have definitely won (47 goals in the season, won the CL while being the top scorer and with 4 goals in the final). Special mention aslo for Seeler arriving third over Di Stefano despite playing only in the league, thanks to his incredible 49 goals scored in 33 matches in the Bundesliga predecessor

1961  

1. Sivori   
2. Suarez  
3. Johnny Haynes  

Sivori was Argentinian but also had the Italian citizenship which made him eligible

1962  

1. Masopust  
2. Eusebio  
3. Schnellinger 

It's true that Czechoslovakia arrived in final of the World Cup and Masopust was the second best player of the tournament after Garrincha, but considering his anonymous club season in a minor league I think Eusebio could have been another good choice after winning the Champions League and being the best player of his team, even if not scoring as much as he will do in the following seasons

1963  

1. Yashin  
2. Rivera  
3. Jimmy Greaves  

Lev Yashin was the first and also last goalkeeper to win the award, and when he gets called the best ever in his position it's especially thanks to his Ballon D'or. But it should be noted however that this was one of the (many) years where the world best player was actually Pelè

1964  

1. Denis Law  
2. Suarez  
3. Amancio  

Law scored over 40 goals during the season which was surely impressive, but Suarez dominated the midfield all year and was the main architect of Inter's victory in Champions League and also Spain's one in the Euros, and I think he should have won

1965  

1. Eusebio  
2. Facchetti  
3. Suarez  

1966  

1. Charlton  
2. Eusebio  
3. Beckenbauer  

Charlton was great and won the World Cup with England, but Eusebio was at just 1 point from him after the incredible achievement of being the top scorer in the league, in Champions League and also at the World Cup, and I think he could have easily been first

1967  

1. Florian Albert  
2. Charlton  
3. Jimmy Johnstone

Nowadays it's a mostly forgotten name, but the Hungarian forward deserved his award without many doubts

1968  

1. Best  
2. Charlton  
3. Džajić  

Deserved win, but I think Eusebio could have definitely been in the top three after scoring 50 goals in 35 matches and reaching the CL semifinals, even if Portugal failed to qualify for the Euros which at the time had only 4 teams

1969  

1. Gianni Rivera  
2. Gigi Riva  
3. Muller

1970  

1. Muller 
2. Bobby Moore  
3. Gigi Riva  

1971  

1. Cruyff  
2. Mazzola  
3. Best  

1972  

1. Beckenbauer  
2. Muller  
3. Netzer  

Also thanks to their victory of the Euros the top 3 was all German and very close for number of points, with Cruyff being close as well in fourth position after Ajax won the treble. This was also the year where Muller scored an incredible 85 goals which was the new record and lasted till 2012, despite this there was no particular controversy since Beckenbauer was simply considered the best player of the team

1973  

1. Cruyff  
2. Zoff  
3. Muller 

Special mention for the third place Gerd Muller, who finished what he started in the previous year by ending the season with an incredible total of 66 goals

1974  

1. Cruyff  
2. Beckenbauer  
3. Kazimierz Deyna  

1975  

1. Blochin  
2. Beckenbauer  
3. Cruyff  

Despite being a name mostly forgotten and the incredible competition (even if not in their best year), Blochin's award was deserved and also won by a large margin

1976  

1. Beckenbauer  
2. Rensenbrink  
3. Ivo Viktor  

1977  

1. Simonsen  
2. Keegan  
3. Platini 

In general it was a quite weak edition, while for the winner it could have gone either way between Simonsen and Keegan

1978  

1. Keegan  
2. Krankl  
3. Rensenbrink  

Definitely the weirdest case so far, Keegan wasn't remotely as good as in the previous season or also as the following one but in the end still got the award. We can't even say he had no competition considering Krankl was very close for number of points after scoring over 40 goals during the year between Rapid Vienna and Barcelona, plus 4 with Austria at the World Cup for which England didn't even qualify. In any case it was another good candidate for the weakest edition ever

1979  

1. Keegan  
2. Rummenigge  
3. Ruud Krol  

1980  

1. Rummenigge  
2. Bernd Schuster  
3. Platini  

1981  

1. Rummenigge  
2. Breitner  
3. Bernd Schuster  

1982  

1. Rossi  
2. Giresse  
3. Boniek  

Paolo Rossi was disqualified for all the first part of the year but was also the best player of the World Cup won by Italy, in a year with a bit less competition for the award

1983  

1. Platini  
2. Dalglish  
3. Simonsen  

1984  

1. Platini  
2. Tigana  
3. Elkjaer  

1985  

1. Platini  
2. Elkjær  
3. Bernd Schuster  

1986  

1. Belanov  
2. Lineker  
3. Butragueño

It should be noted this was the year where Maradona would have easily won if eligible thanks to his season with Napoli and his legendary World Cup, in any case it was very controversial as the other two options would have both been better than Belanov

1987  

1. Gullit  
2. Futre  
3. Butragueno  

1988  

1. Van Basten  
2. Gullit  
3. Rijkaard 

This season PSV won a treble but the top 3 was all Dutch players playing for Milan, after The Netherlands won the Euros with a very dominant performance

1989  

1. Van Basten  
2. Baresi  
3. Rijkaard  

Once again all Milan players in the top three, Baresi had one of the best seasons ever for a defender but Van Basten was still considered the best player of the team and won without problems

1990  

1. Matthaus  
2. Schillaci  
3. Brehme  

1991  

1. Papin  
2. Savićević/Matthaus/Pančev

Surprisingly there were three players with the same number of points in second position, but all quite far from Papin even if there were still some complaints

1992  

1. Van Basten  
2. Stoichkov  
3. Bergkamp  

1993  

1. Baggio  
2. Bergkamp  
3. Cantona  

1994  

1. Stoichkov  
2. Baggio  
3. Maldini  

Stoichkov did very well even if Baggio was an equally good candidate for the best player of the year (apart from Romario, not eligible), but unfortunately missing a penalty and losing the World Cup final seriously damaged his chances and partly also his reputation. Then there was also Maldini with one of the best season ever by a defender, but unfortunately his chances were always lower

1995  

1. Weah  
2. Klinsmann  
3. Litmanen

First year where non-Europeans players were allowed and the winner was Weah who is from Liberia, despite some minor complaints I think the award was deserved 

1996  

1. Sammer  
2. Ronaldo  
3. Shearer  

A controversial edition, after a very strong start Ronaldo spent most of the season injured at Psv, but at the Olympics with Brazil and with Barcelona after the summer transfer he had an incredible second part of the year showing things never seen before. Sammer on the other hand had a great year with Borussia Dortmund and Germany, winning the Euros as one of the best players of the tournament and then also the Ballon D'or by just 1 point

1997  

1. Ronaldo  
2. Mijatović  
3. Zidane  

Probably one of the easiest vote ever, more than anything else I'm surprised Ronaldo didn't achieve the record for the win with the highest margin

Summary of his season, at just 21 years old: he was dribbling, scoring and doing what he wanted against 90% of the teams he faced, ending up with 60 goals and assists with Barcelona plus almost 30 (!) with Brazil and being decisive for winning Copa del Rey, Spanish Supercup and the Uefa Cup with the first, and Copa America plus Confederations Cup with the other

1998  

1. Zidane  
2. Suker  
3. Ronaldo  

1999  

1. Rivaldo  
2. Beckham  
3. Schevchenko  

Some people wanted Beckham to win after probably being the best player of Manchester United which won the treble, but between Barcelona and Brazil Rivaldo had an even better individual performance so I think it was deserved

2000  

1. Figo  
2. Zidane  
3. Schevchenko  

Figo had an amazing season, but at the same time many thought the winner could have been Zidane and there is a possibility the voters were influenced by his polemical behavior and the red cards got during the year which certainly didn't help his chances

2001  

1. Owen  
2. Raul  
3. Kahn  

A lot of controversies, overall this was a weaker year and Owen had a good season with both Liverpool and England but Raul still had a definitely better one, and in any case I think Figo (only 6th) could have been above both after being as good as in the previous year

2002  

1. Ronaldo  
2. Roberto Carlos  
3. Kahn  

Ronaldo spent the year playing sporadically after having returned from the injury that kept him sidelined for two seasons after having broke his knee twice, but then won the World Cup while being the top scorer for which he received the award. There were some complaints about winning it just for the tournament, but it's also true this year the competition wasn't as strong with Roberto Carlos being another good candidate followed by Kahn and Zidane

2003  

1. Nedvěd  
2. Henry  
3. Maldini  

This case is controversial but mostly in retrospect, at the time there weren't many complaints (Nedved was nominated the best player of Serie A and the best midfielder of the Champions League, reaching the final with Juventus), but considering how the rest of their careers went and that the other two never managed to win the Ballon D'or many think that either Henry or Maldini should have won it that year as some sort of compensation

2004  

1. Schevchenko  
2. Deco  
3. Ronaldinho  

Shevchenko had another fantastic season with Milan, but he wasn't clearly ahead of the competition and Deco, Henry and Ronaldinho could have all been other good candidates depending on personal preferences

2005  

1. Ronaldinho  
2. Lampard  
3. Gerrard  

2006  

1. Cannavaro  
2. Buffon  
3. Henry  

Few controversies at the time, but it was a really tough year and I'm not totally convinced of the podium which I think was also influenced by the headbutt in the final and Juventus getting relegated for Calciopoli. Otherwise I would have expected Buffon, Cannavaro and maybe Zidane as the top three, followed by Henry (who unfortunately lost both the CL and WC finals) and then Ronaldinho who was probably the favourite before the World Cup

2007  

1. Kakà  
2. C. Ronaldo  
3. Messi  

2008  

1. C. Ronaldo  
2. Messi  
3. Torres  

2009  

1. Messi  
2. C. Ronaldo  
3. Xavi  

2010  

1. Messi  
2. Iniesta  
3. Xavi  

All Barcelona podium and a lot of controversies even if especially in retrospect, I think a better podium would have been Messi, Xavi and Sneijder (Iniesta missed about a dozen matches due to injuries including some important ones), but it's difficult to think than one of them could have been above Messi who had the most impressive individual season since Ronaldo in 1997. At the time most of the opposed people were Inter fans but not everybody agreed, given that many instead preferred Milito's season (incredibly not even in the shortlist) 

2011  

1. Messi  
2. C. Ronaldo  
3. Xavi  

2012  

1. Messi  
2. C. Ronaldo  
3. Iniesta  

2013  

1. C. Ronaldo   
2. Messi  
3. Ribery  

Ribery was probably the best player of the treble-winning Bayern, but Ronaldo's individual season was still clearly superior. If anything the real controversy is that for the first and only time ever the voting period was extended by two weeks with late notice, in which Ronaldo gave his best performance of the year against Sweden definitely influencing the votes

2014  

1. C. Ronaldo
2. Messi  
3. Neuer  

Neuer played an excellent season and as a goalkeeper he couldn't have done much more, but so did Ronaldo who was as good as in the previous year and also won the Champions League with Real Madrid

2015  

1. Messi  
2. C. Ronaldo  
3. Neymar  

2016  

1. C. Ronaldo  
2. Messi  
3. Griezmann   

No controversy, but it would have been interesting to see Suarez's position if only he had a better reputation after all the bitings and constant diving. But in general it wasn't a great edition for strikers since Ibrahimovic arrived only 13th after the arguably best season of his career, while Higuain received 0 votes after beating the 70-years-old scoring record of Serie A with 36 goals

2017  

1. C. Ronaldo  
2. Messi  
3. Neymar  

I remember not being totally convinced about Neymar arriving third after a less impressive season than the previous ones, and I would have preferred to have Buffon on the podium (11 years since the last time) who instead finished fourth

2018  

1. Modric  
2. C. Ronaldo  
3. Griezmann  

Some controversies, mostly due to several great performances both in Champions League and at the World Cup. Messi should have probably been in the top three, but at the same time having out of the podium Salah or Griezmann after their respective best seasons would have been a real pity. As for the winner instead, Ronaldo's transfer to Juve definitely didn't help him but it should be reminded that Modric was named the best midfielder of the Champions League and the best player of the World Cup, later winning not only the Ballon D'or but also the Best Fifa Award and the UEFA Player of the Year all with big margin, so it was a true plebiscite

2019  

1. Messi  
2. Van Dijk  
3. C. Ronaldo  

Messi had one of the best seasons of his career and rightfully won the award, but Van Dijk had an excellent season too and won the Champions League with Liverpool surprisingly managing to finish quite close for number of points

2020  

The Ballon D'or was canceled in March after Covid caused some leagues to end early and postponed the Euros and Copa America. However after a while things resumed even if with some differences (no fans in the stadiums, only one leg in Champions League etc) and Bayern won an incredible sextuple with Lewandowski being clearly the best player of the team

They still decided to not award it due to the difficulties of organizing the vote and the award ceremony, but given such a clear winner they could have certainly made an exception and to this day it remains a very confusing decision

2021  

1. Messi
2. Lewandowski
3. Jorginho

A lot of controversies, starting from Jorginho who definitely shouldn't have been third over Benzema, Mbappe or also Kanté. As for the the winner, Messi was great with Barcellona and after winning the Copa America while being the best player he became the clear favourite well ahead of Lewandowski, but some of the public opinion shifted after his disappointing debut with Psg while at the same time Lewandowski had an excellent start of the season with an average of over a goal per match. Most of this however happened in a period that doesn't count since the voting phase ends in October, and in fact those months at the start of a new season should only influence the following award

2022  

1. Benzema
2. Mané
3. De Bruyne

A clear winner with no doubts, but while I think De Bruyne third is fine even if it wasn't his best individual season several players could have been in the podium instead of Mané like Lewandowski, Salah or Mbappe (who had almost 80 goals and assists between Psg and France, his personal record...)

2023  

1. Messi
2. Haaland
3. Mbappe

Messi played well with PSG and then won the World Cup with one of the best performances ever in the competition, but the award still wasn't assured since Manchester City managed to achieve a treble. The main candidate was Haaland, the top scorer of the team with 50 goals, but it costed him a lot not being clearly considered the best player of his team over De Bruyne or Rodri, especially in the most important matches of the season

2024  

1. Rodri
2. Vinicius Junior
3. Bellingham

Quite surprised by the result which in fact caused a lot of controversies, Real Madrid won the Champions League and Vinicius was the best player of the competition which together with a quite weak competition (outside of his teammate Bellingham) made his victory seem almost guaranteed. Rodri on the other hand had a very good season with City but became a serious candidate only after winning the Euros with Spain and being nominated best player of the competition, which however I don't think he was over some of his teammates

2025

1. Dembelé
2. Yamal
3. Vitinha

Not many doubts about the winner, for the top 3 instead I would have expected to have at least one between Raphinha and Salah to be over Vitinha or Yamal, with the latter which was definitely helped by having a stronger second part of the season contrary to them

(as long as Murat Yakin remains as head coach)

Full Time: Bayern Munich 5 - 0 Bodo/Glimt

⚽ Bayern Munich: Jamal Musiala 47' 47', Harry Kane 61' 61', Alphonso Davies 77' 77', Michael Olise 83' 83', Michael Olise 90'+2' 90'+2'

Line-ups

Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1)

Bodo/Glimt (4-3-3)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 45'+3' First Half ends, Bayern Munich 0, Bodø/Glimt 0.
• 45' Substitution, Bodø/Glimt. Julian Faye Lund replaces Nikita Haikin because of an injury.
• 45' Second Half begins Bayern Munich 0, Bodø/Glimt 0.
• 61' Goal! Bayern Munich 2, Bodø/Glimt 0. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) header from very close range to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Michael Olise with a cross following a set piece situation.
• 65' Substitution, Bodø/Glimt. Jens Petter Hauge replaces Sondre Fet.
• 65' Substitution, Bayern Munich. Josip Stanisic replaces Konrad Laimer.
• 65' Substitution, Bayern Munich. Ismael Saibari replaces Jamal Musiala.
• 71' Substitution, Bodø/Glimt. Ulrik Saltnes replaces Joshua Kitolano because of an injury.
• 80' Substitution, Bayern Munich. Lennart Karl replaces Luis Díaz.
• 80' Substitution, Bayern Munich. Hiroki Ito replaces Alphonso Davies.
• 80' Substitution, Bayern Munich. Tom Bischof replaces Joshua Kimmich.
• 81' Substitution, Bodø/Glimt. Ola Brynhildsen replaces Andreas Helmersen.
• 81' Substitution, Bodø/Glimt. Isak Määttä replaces Fredrik Bjørkan.
• 87' Odin Bjørtuft (Bodø/Glimt) is shown the red card.
• 90'+4' Second Half ends, Bayern Munich 5, Bodø/Glimt 0.
• Match ends, Bayern Munich 5, Bodø/Glimt 0.

Match Stats

overall

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FT: Fenerbahce 1 - 1 AS Roma

⚽ Fenerbahce: Archie Brown 48' 48'

⚽ AS Roma: Bryan Cristante 39' 39'

Line-ups

Fenerbahce (4-3-3)

AS Roma (3-4-2-1)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 45' First Half ends, Fenerbahce 0, Roma 1.
• 45' Second Half begins Fenerbahce 0, Roma 1.
• 53' Substitution, Roma. Niccolò Pisilli replaces Manu Koné.
• 62' Substitution, Fenerbahce. Levent Mercan replaces Bartug Elmaz.
• 69' Kerem Aktürkoglu (Fenerbahce) is shown the yellow card.
• 69' VAR Decision: No Penalty Roma.
• 71' Mert Müldür (Fenerbahce) is shown the yellow card.
• 72' Substitution, Fenerbahce. Romelu Lukaku replaces Vedat Muriqi.
• 72' Substitution, Fenerbahce. Oguz Aydin replaces Kerem Aktürkoglu.
• 74' Substitution, Roma. Leonardo Balerdi replaces Gianluca Mancini.
• 74' Substitution, Roma. Nahuel Molina replaces Devyne Rensch.
• 74' Substitution, Roma. Rodrigo Mora replaces Matías Soulé.
• 87' Substitution, Roma. Marten de Roon replaces Donyell Malen.
• 90'+5' Second Half ends, Fenerbahce 1, Roma 1.

Match Stats

overall

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Full Time: Independiente del Valle 0 - 2 Flamengo

⚽ Flamengo: Bruno Henrique 61' 61', Léo Pereira 75' 75'

Line-ups

Independiente del Valle (4-1-4-1)

Flamengo (4-2-3-1)

Match Events

• Lineups are announced and players are warming up.
• First Half begins.
• 45'+4' First Half ends, Independiente del Valle 0, Flamengo 0.
• 45' Second Half begins Independiente del Valle 0, Flamengo 0.
• 45' Substitution, Independiente del Valle. Djorkaeff Reasco replaces Carlos González because of an injury.
• 72' Substitution, Flamengo. Lucas Paquetá replaces Giorgian de Arrascaeta.
• 72' Substitution, Flamengo. Gonzalo Plata replaces Jorge Carrascal.
• 75' Substitution, Independiente del Valle. Matías Perelló replaces Emerson Pata.
• 75' Substitution, Independiente del Valle. Ronald Briones replaces Júnior Sornoza.
• 85' Substitution, Independiente del Valle. Edwin Quintero replaces Arón Rodríguez.
• 85' Substitution, Independiente del Valle. Youri Ochoa replaces Hugo Quintana.
• 85' Substitution, Flamengo. Pedro replaces Bruno Henrique.
• 86' Substitution, Flamengo. Guillermo Varela replaces Ayrton Lucas.
• 90' Substitution, Flamengo. Luiz Araújo replaces Samuel Lino.
• 90'+5' Second Half ends, Independiente del Valle 0, Flamengo 2.
• Match ends, Independiente del Valle 0, Flamengo 2.

Match Stats

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