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The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual honour in football. Since 1956, the award has been given out every year to the best player during a calendar year.
It started out by recognising only European stars, but then expanded to include everyone, although it's still dominated by those plying their trade in Europe.
In more recent years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have made it a duopoly, winning 11 of the last 12 editions of the award. But many great players in the past have been recipients of the Ballon d'Or honour too.
On that note, here's a look at the five countries with the most Ballon d'Or awards:
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#5 Argentina - 6
The words 'Argentina' and 'six Ballon d'Ors' surely ring a bell? That's because we're talking about Barcelona ace Lionel Messi here.
La Pulga (6) is the player with the most Ballon d'Or awards in history, which is also the most for a single club and the most for a country by a single player.
These are awe-inspiring numbers and reflect the kind of impact Messi has had. But it's also startling that no other player from Argentina has won the award despite the Albiceleste having some absolute legends gracing their sky blue colours over the years.
Alfredo di Stefano and Omar Sivori are the only two Argentina-born winners of the Ballon d'Or award besides Messi. But the duo had already sworn allegiance to Spain and Italy respectively by the time they won the Ballon d'Or.
Diego Maradona could've won it in 1986 for his exploits in the FIFA World Cup that year if only the award was given out to non-European players back then. Meanwhile, others like Diego Simeone, Javier Zanetti and Gabriel Batistuta didn't even make the cut into the top three nominations after the Ballon d'Or award went global.
#4 France - 6
France have also collected six Ballon d'Or awards, but have had three more representatives than Argentina.
Raymond Kopa was the first French player to win the award in 1958, before Michel Platini's historic Ballon d'Or hat-trick from 1983 to 1985. In the 90s, Marseille legend Jean-Pierre Papin was awarded the Ballon d'Or award after guiding his side to Champions League glory in 1993.
Zinedine Zidane's heroics in France's triumphant FIFA World Cup 1998 campaign fetched him the coveted honour that year.
Zidane remains the last Frenchman to get his hands on the Ballon d'Or award. However, Thierry Henry (twice), Franck Ribery and Antoine Griezmann (twice) all lost out after finishing in the top three nominations of the award this century.
#3 Portugal - 7
Portugal have never been a 'big side' in world football until recently, but have been producing some world-beaters for generations.
Eusebio was the first true Portuguese superstar, making the world take notice of him in the 1960s. So it's not surprising that he was the first player from his country to win the Ballon d'Or award.
The Selecao had to wait a good 35 years for their next Ballon d'Or winner when Luis Figo joined the legendary striker won the award in 2000. Since then, it's been all Cristiano Ronaldo.
Widely considered the greatest Portuguese player ever, he has won the Ballon d'Or award five times in his illustrious career. He has also had the most Ballon d'Or nominations from his country, with 12.
The current Portugal squad is replete with several talented young guns. So it wouldn't be surprising to see another player from the country holding aloft the Ballon d'Or award in the near future.
#2 The Netherlands - 7
The Netherlands have never been serial winners on the world stage like Brazil, Italy or Germany, but still rank high in terms of Ballon d'Or wins in history.
That's because the country has produced some of the most talented stars ever seen, such as Johan Cryuff, who was the first Dutch winner of the Ballon d'Or award in 1971 before he picked up two more in 1973 and 1974.
Former AC Milan legend Ruud Gullit was the next Dutch player to win the Ballon d'Or award, doing so in 1987 after helping PSV Eindhoven to the Dutch Eredivisie title.
Marco van Basten followed suit in the late 80s with wins in 1988 and 1989, before bagging a third in 1993. That makes the Netherlands the only country to have multiple players with three Ballon d'Or wins.
#1 Germany - 7
Matthias Sammer was the last German player to win the Ballon d'Or award, which was way back in 1996. Yet here we are, with Die Mannschaft having the most representations on this list (5) and the joint-most number of Ballon d'Or wins in history.
Gerd Muller first put Die Mannschaft on the Ballon d'Or map with his success in 1970 before Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rumminegge bagged two each in the next few years.
In 1990, Lothar Matthaus won the award after guiding Germany to glory at the FIFA World Cup.
Legendary goalkeepers Olivier Kahn (twice) and Manuel Neuer both finished third in the Ballon d'Or nominations.
