History of the Ballon d'Or: Winners and Records

The Ballon d’Or is an annual award given by the French magazine France Football since 1956 to the footballer judged the best over the previous season. Voted on by an international panel of journalists, it is the sport’s most prestigious individual honour. Lionel Messi holds the record with eight wins, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s five, and a women’s edition has run alongside the men’s award since 2018.

How the Ballon d’Or works

France Football created the award in 1956, the idea of journalists Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, to crown the continent’s finest player. The winner is chosen by a specialist jury: one journalist from each of the countries ranked highest by FIFA. France Football and L’Équipe first publish a 30-player shortlist, and each voter ranks their top ten from it.

Points are handed out by ranking position, 15 for a first-place vote down to a single point for tenth. The player with the most points wins. Judges are asked to weigh three things: the individual’s performances, their team’s collective achievements over the season, and their fair play. Since a 2022 overhaul, the award reflects a single European season, roughly August to July, rather than a calendar year, and a player’s overall career no longer factors into the vote.

Messi and Ronaldo: the two-man era

For over a decade, the Ballon d’Or was effectively a private duel between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Between 2008 and 2017, the pair shared every single trophy, a run of dominance the award had never seen before.

• Lionel Messi is the outright record holder with eight Ballon d’Or wins: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023. His most recent came after captaining Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title in Qatar.
• Cristiano Ronaldo sits second with five, in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Three came as the Ballon d’Or and two during its merged FIFA Ballon d’Or period.

No active or retired player other than these two has won the award more than three times, which is what makes their combined tally of 13 so historically striking.

The greats before them

The Ballon d’Or’s history stretches far beyond the modern era, and several icons defined earlier generations.

Stanley Matthews (1956) — The Blackpool winger became the first-ever winner at 41, still the oldest recipient in the award’s history.

Johan Cruyff (1971, 1973, 1974) — The Dutch pioneer of Total Football was the first man to win three times, shaping how the modern game is played.

Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985) — The France playmaker matched Cruyff’s three and was the first to win in three consecutive years.

Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992) — The Dutch striker’s three wins for AC Milan came before injury cut his career short at just 28.

Lev Yashin (1963) — The Soviet goalkeeper remains the only keeper ever to win the award, a record that has stood for more than six decades.

Zinédine Zidane (1998) — The France midfielder took the prize in the year he inspired his country to a home World Cup, one of many single-win legends.

The women’s Ballon d’Or

France Football introduced the Ballon d’Or Féminin in 2018, and Norway’s Ada Hegerberg became its inaugural winner. The United States’ Megan Rapinoe took the 2019 edition after her World Cup Golden Ball and Golden Boot double.

Since then, the award has been dominated by FC Barcelona. Alexia Putellas won back-to-back trophies in 2021 and 2022, becoming the first two-time winner. Her club-mate Aitana Bonmatí then went one better, claiming the 2023, 2024, and 2025 awards to become the first woman to win three times. Of the women’s trophies handed out so far, the majority have gone to Barcelona players, a run that mirrors the club’s grip on the European women’s game.

Ballon d’Or records at a glance

Record	Holder	Detail
Most wins (men)	Lionel Messi	8 (2009–2023)
Second-most wins (men)	Cristiano Ronaldo	5 (2008–2017)
Most wins (women)	Aitana Bonmatí	3 (2023–2025)
First winner (men)	Stanley Matthews	1956, aged 41
First winner (women)	Ada Hegerberg	2018
Only goalkeeper to win	Lev Yashin	1963
Oldest winner	Stanley Matthews	41 years old

The most recent winners

The post-Messi-and-Ronaldo era has opened the award up to new names. In 2024, Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri won, becoming the first defensive midfielder honoured in decades after a Premier League title and a Euro 2024 triumph. He was also the first Spain-born winner since Luis Suárez in 1960. Aitana Bonmatí took the women’s award the same night.

In 2025, Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Ousmane Dembélé claimed the men’s trophy, finishing well clear of Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal in the voting. Dembélé’s win followed PSG’s first-ever Champions League title and a domestic double, capping a season of 37 goal contributions. Bonmatí, meanwhile, sealed her third straight women’s Ballon d’Or, extending Barcelona’s five-year hold on the prize.

The Ballon d’Or has always been more than a trophy: it is a running record of who defined football, season by season, from Stanley Matthews to the stars of today.