When talking to any player at the beginning of his football career about what he aspires to in his career, the first thing he answers is to achieve the "Golden Ball", this award turned into glory that immortalizes everything the player has done and makes his name in letters of light in the history of the round witch.
A long history of the Golden Ball, as it was launched for the first time in 1956 by the famous magazine "France Football", and quickly found popularity in various parts of the world by football fans, and every player in the world puts it as his most important goal and builds his movements and plans on it.
Englishman Stanley Matthews was the first to achieve the "Balloon Door" in history, after beating Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano, and from then until this year, 2023, the Ballon d'Or was presented annually except once in 2020 due to the Corona pandemic.
What is the story of the Ballon d'Or, how did the idea start, how did it develop, and who is the most successful player in history? Together we will review all of this in this report from FanzWord.
How the Ballon d'Or began and its stages of development
The Ballon d'Or was not only about honouring outstanding and great players, but in fact it was an attempt by France Football magazine to promote itself on the European continent.
In general, the idea was first launched by the famous French journalist Jacques Fran, and it is interesting that since the first version of it in 1956, it has found overwhelming popularity both among players and fans.
But in this regard, it should be noted that the Ballon d'Or award was awarded only to the best player within the continent of Europe from 1956 to 1995, and it was also a prerequisite that the player must be a European national in order to win it.
Starting in 1995, the rule was changed to the best player to play within continental Europe and the requirement that his nationality be European was removed.
Liberian George Weah was the first non-European player to win the award, following his historic season with Milan in 1995.
In 2007, France Football decided to make another historic amendment: the award is now given to any player in the world, regardless of where they participate.
The year 2010 saw a historic partnership between FIFA and France Football, turning the award into the FIFA Ballon d'Or following the merger between the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d'Or from France Football.
In 2016, this partnership broke up, and the award was again presented only by France Football, while FIFA announced the establishment of its own award, The Best, for the best player in the world.
Football legends Maradona and Pelé have not won it
When talking about the world of football legends, the first two names that come to mind for any football lover are Diego Armando Maradona of Argentina and Pele of the Brazilian star, but the truth is that the duo has never won the Ballon d'Or.
The reason for this is not what they did on the pitch, but France Football's decision to limit the winners of the award to players who have the nationality of a European country during the period that witnessed the duo's glories, namely from 1956 until this decision was changed in 1995.
France Football tried to compensate Maradona and Pelé for not receiving the award, through what was called the "substitute Ballon d'Or" or "Ballon d'Or", which was awarded to the duo long after their retirement from football.
Pelé has won this award 8 times, 7 for his stadium bidding pool in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1970, and another honorary one after his death.
As for Maradona, he won the alternative award twice, the first for 1986, in which he led Argentina to the World Cup title, and the other for 1990, the same year in which he reached the final of the World Cup in Italy and lost to Germany by a goal without reply.
Over the course of his life, Maradona has denounced France Football's decision to award only Europeans the award, famously saying that he would have won the award more than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo if it had been available in his time.
How the Ballon d'Or winner is selected
France Football determined the mechanism for selecting the winner of the Ballon d'Or from the first day through the vote of journalists, and in the period of partnership with "FIFA" the votes of the captains and technical managers of the teams were counted, but after the dissolution of the partnership the matter returned to what it was historically.
The French magazine polls 173 journalists from around the world on a list of 30 players, with three basic voting criteria: the player's individual performances, behavior, and collective achievements with his team.
Each journalist selects five players in descending order, the first is awarded 6 points, the second is 4 points, the third is 3 points, then two points, then one point, and the prize is given to the player with the most points.
Lionel Messi sings solo
Lionel Messi is the most successful player in history to win the Ballon d'Or, winning it 7 times, and the eighth looks on the way to the 2023 edition.
The Barcelona and Argentina legend first won the award in 2009, then again in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2021.
The second most Ballon d'Or winner is Portugal and Real Madrid legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, with 5 times, the first in 2008, followed by 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
3 legends who have succeeded in winning the Ballon d'Or 3 times, namely the Dutch Van Basten and Johan Cruyff and the Frenchman Michel Platini.
Twice, Ronaldo achieved Brazilian, German Frans Beckenbauer, Spaniard Alfredo Di Stéfano, German Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Englishman Kevan Keegan.
The award has been given to several legends at once, such as Zinedine Zidane in 1998, Luka Modric, who ended Messi and Ronaldo's dominance in 2018, Karim Benzema in 2023, Lothar Matthäus in 1990 and others.
Messi breaks the dominance of Europeans
4 European nationalities have won the Ballon d'Or across their various players on 7 occasions, namely French, Portuguese, Dutch and German.
In France, 5 players have won the Ballon d'Or in total 7 times, while in the Netherlands 3 players, Portugal 3 players, compared to 5 German players.
But if Lionel Messi is crowned with the eighth Ballon d'Or, he will make the Argentine nationality the most crowned with the award on 8 occasions, although he is the only one to have achieved it from his country.
Real Madrid beat Barcelona
Real Madrid is the club that has produced the most players to win the Ballon d'Or in history, with 8 Los Blancos players winning the award 12 times in total.
Cristiano Ronaldo 5 times, Alfredo Di Stéfano twice, Karim Benzema once, Raymond Copa once, Luis Figo once, Ronaldo Brazilian once, Fabio Cannavaro once, Luka Modric once.
· 1956: Stanley Matthews - Blackpool
· 1957: Alfredo Di Stéfano - Real Madrid
· 1958: Raymond Copa - Real Madrid
· 1959: Alfredo Di Stéfano Real Madrid
· 1960: Luis Suarez - Barcelona
· 1961: Omar Savory - Juventus
· 1962: Joseph Musabest-Dukla Prague
· 1963: Lev Yashin - Dynamo Moscow
· 1964: Dennis Law v Manchester United
· 1965: Eusebio v Benfica
· 1966: Bobby Charlon - Manchester United
· 1967: Florian Albert- Ferentsvaroschi
· 1968: George Best - Manchester United
· 1969: Gianni Rivera - Milan
· 1970: Gerd Müller - Bayern Munich
· 1971: Johan Cruyff - Ajax
· 1972: Franz Beckenbauer - Bayern Munich
· 1973: Johan Cruyff - Barcelona
· 1974: Johan Cruyff - Barcelona
· 1975: Oleg Blokhin - Dynamo Kyiv
· 1976: Franz Beckenbauer - Bayern Munich
· 1977: Alan Simonsen - Borussia Mönchengladbach
· 1978: Kevin Keegan - Hamburg
· 1979: Kevin Keegan - Hamburg
· 1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge v Bayern Munich
· 1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge v Bayern Munich
· 1982: Paolo Rossi - Juventus
· 1983: Michel Platini - Juventus
· 1984: Michel Platini - Juventus
· 1985: Michel Platini - Juventus
· 1986: Igor Bellanov - Dynamo Kyiv
· 1987: Ruud Gullit - Milan
· 1988: Marco van Basten - Milan
· 1989: Marco van Basten - Milan
· 1990: Lothar Matthäus - Bayern Munich
· 1991: Jean-Pierre Papin - Marseille
· 1992: Marco van Basten - Milan
· 1993: Roberto Baggio - Juventus
· 1994: Hristo Stoichkov - Barcelona
· 1995: George Weah - Milan
· 1996: Matthias Sammer - Borussia Dortmund
· 1997: Ronaldo - Inter
· 1998: Zinedine Zidane - Juventus
· 1999: Rivallo - Barcelona
· 2000: Luis Figo v Real Madrid
· 2001: Michael Owen - Liverpool
· 2002: Ronaldo - Real Madrid
· 2003: Pavel Nedved - Juventus
· 2004: Andrea Shevchenko - Milan
· 2005: Ronaldinho - Barcelona
· 2006: Fabio Cannavaro - Juventus
· 2007: KaKa - 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: Award cancelled
· 2021: Lionel Messi - Barcelona
· 2022: Karim Benzema - Real Madrid
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