One of the most prestigious individual awards in football, the Ballon d’Or award is an annual association award founded by France Football in 1956 by Sports writer Gabriel Hanot. Also known as the European Football Player of the Year, the Ballon d’Or award was initially restricted to only European footballers till 1995. However, from 1995 all players playing in European clubs were eligible.
Initially, the award was decided by votes from a select group of European journalists, however, in 2007 it was amended to include the votes of players and journalists all over the world. It was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009 and called the FIFA Ballon d’Or awarded till 2015.
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However, since the Ballon d’Or award is not part of FIFA anymore, there are two award galas to look forward to with Ballon d’Or being conducted by France Football and FIFA awarding the “Best Player of the Year” awards.
This split means that the Ballon d’Or will once again be controlled by the French publication, and voting will be reserved exclusively for journalists in Europe, thereby returning to its initial format while the FIFA Best Player of the Year will be decided by votes from national team coaches, captains, players and fans.
Here is a list of all the Ballon d’Or winners from 1956 to 2015
| Year | 1st | Club | 2nd | Club | 3rd | Club |
| 1956 | Stanley Matthews | Blackpool | Alfredo Di Stefano | Real Madrid | Raymond Kopa | Real Madrid |
| 1957 | Alfredo Di Stefano | Real Madrid | Billy Wright | Wolves | Duncan Edwards & Raymond Kopa | Manchester United & Real Madrid |
| 1958 | Raymond Kopa | Real Madrid | Helmut Rahn | Rot-Weiss | Just Fontaine | Stade de Reims |
| 1959 | Alfredo Di Stefano | Real Madrid | Raymond Kopa | Real Madrid | John Charles | Juventus |
| 1960 | Luis Suarez | Barcelona | Ferenc Puskas | Real Madrid | Uwe Seeler | Hamburg |
| 1961 | Omar Sivori | Juventus | Luis Suarez | Inter Milan | Johny Hanes | Fulham |
| 1962 | Masopust | Dukla Prague | Eusebio | Benfica | Karl-Heinz Schnellinger | Koln |
| 1963 | Lev Yashin | Dynamo Moscow | Gianni Rivera | AC Milan | Jimmy Greaves | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1964 | Denis Law | Manchester United | Luis Suarez | Inter Milan | Amancio | Real Madrid |
| 1965 | Eusebio | Benfica | Giacinto Facchetti | Inter Milan | Luis Suarez | Inter Milan |
| 1966 | Bobby Charlton | Manchester United | Eusebio | Benfica | Franz Beckenbauer | Bayern Munich |
| 1967 | Florian Albert | Ferencvaros | Bobby Charlton | Manchester United | Jimmy Johnstone | Celtic |
| 1968 | George Best | Manchester United | Bobby Charlton | Manchester United | Dragan Dzajic | Red Star Belgrade |
| 1969 | Gianni Rivera | AC Milan | Luigi Riva | Cagliari | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich |
| 1970 | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich | Bobby Moore | West Ham | Luigi Riva | Cagliari |
| 1971 | Johan Cruyff | Ajax | Sandro Mazzola | Inter Milan | George Best | Manchester United |
| 1972 | Franz Beckenbauer | Bayern Munich | Gerd Muller & Gunter Netzer | Bayern Munich & Borussia Monchengladbach | - | - |
| 1973 | Johan Cruyff | Barcelona | Dino Zoff | Juventus | Gerd Muller | Bayern Munich |
| 1974 | Johan Cruyff | Barcelona | Franz Beckenbauer | Bayern Munich | Kazimierz Deyna | Legia Warsaw |
| 1975 | Oleg Blokhin | Dynamo Kyiv | Franz Beckenbauer | Bayern Munich | Johan Cruyff | Barcelona |
| 1976 | Franz Beckenbauer | Bayern Munich | Rob Rensenbrink | Andrelecht | Ivo Viktor | Dukla Prague |
| 1977 | Allan Simonsen | Borussia Monchengladbach | Kevin Keegan | Hamburg | Michael Platini | Nancy |
| 1978 | Kevin Keegan | Hamburg | Hans Krankl | Barcelona | Rob Rensenbrink | Andrelecht |
| 1979 | Kevin Keegan | Hamburg | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | Rudd Krol | Ajax |
| 1980 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | Bernd Schuster | Barcelona | Michael Platini | St. Etienner |
| 1981 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | Paul Breitner | Bayern Munich | Bernd Schuster | Barcelona |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi | Juventus | Alain Giresse | Bordeaux | Zbigniew Boniek | Juventus |
| 1983 | Michael Platini | Juventus | Kenny Dalglish | Liverpool | Allan Simonsen | Vejle |
| 1984 | Michael Platini | Juventus | Jean Tigana | Bordeaux | Preben Elkjaer | Hellas Verona |
| 1985 | Michael Platini | Juventus | Preben Elkjaer | Hellas Verona | Bernd Schuster | Barcelona |
| 1986 | Igor Belanov | Dynamo Kyiv | Gary Lineker | Barcelona | Emilio Butragueno | Real Madrid |
| 1987 | Ruud Guillit | AC Milan | Paulo Futre | Atletico Madrid | Emilio Butragueno | Real Madrid |
| 1988 | Marco van Basten | AC Milan | Ruud Guillit | AC Milan | Frank Rijkaard | AC Milan |
| 1989 | Marco van Basten | AC Milan | Franco Baresi | AC Milan | Frank Rijkaard | AC Milan |
| 1990 | Lothar Matthaus | Inter Milan | Salvatore Schillaci | Juventus | Andreas Brehme | Inter Milan |
| 1991 | Jean-Pierre Papin | Marseille | Dejan Savicevic & Darko Pancev & Lothar Matthaus | Red Star Belgrade & Red Star Belgrade & Inter MIlan | - | - |
| 1992 | Marco van Basten | AC Milan | Hristo Stoichkov | Barcelona | Dennis Bergkamp | Ajax |
| 1993 | Roberto Baggio | Juventus | Dennis Bergkamp | Inter Milan | Eric Cantona | Manchester United |
| 1994 | Hristo Stoichkov | Barcelona | Roberto Baggio | Juventus | Paolo Maldini | AC Milan |
| 1995 | George Weah | AC Milan | Jurgen Klinsmann | Bayern Munich | Jari Litmanen | Ajax |
| 1996 | Mathias Sammer | Borussia Dortmund | Ronaldo Nazario | Barcelona | Alan Shearer | Newcastle United |
| 1997 | Ronaldo Nazario | Inter Milan | Predrag Mijatovic | Real Madrid | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus |
| 1998 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | Davor Suker | Real Madrid | Ronaldo Nazario | Inter Milan |
| 1999 | Rivaldo | Barcelona | David Beckham | Manchester United | Andriy Schevchenko | AC Milan |
| 2000 | Luis Figo | Real Madrid | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | Andriy Schevchenko | AC Milan |
| 2001 | Michael Owen | Liverpool | Raul | Real Madrid | Oliver Kahn | Bayern Munich |
| 2002 | Ronaldo Nazario | Real Madrid | Roberto Carlos | Real Madrid | Oliver Kahn | Bayern Munich |
| 2003 | Pavel Nedved | Juventus | Thierry Henry | Arsenal | Paolo Maldini | AC Milan |
| 2004 | Andriy Schevchenko | AC Milan | Deco | Barcelona | Ronaldinho | Barcelona |
| 2005 | Ronaldinho | Barcelona | Frank Lampard | Chelsea | Steven Gerrard | Liverpool |
| 2006 | Fabio Cannavaro | Real Madrid | Gianluigi Buffon | Juventus | Thierry Henry | Arsenal |
| 2007 | Kaka | AC Milan | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | Lionel Messi | Barcelona |
| 2008 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Fernando Torres | Liverpool |
| 2009 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Xavi | Barcelona |
Juventus, Milan and Barcelona are the most successful clubs in the awards having had 6 players while Real Madrid are the next most successful club with 5 players.
From 2009, the award was changed to FIFA Ballon d’Or, here are the winners:
| Year | 1st | Club | 2nd | Club | 3rd | Club |
| 2010 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Andres Iniesta | Barcelona | Xavi | Barcelona |
| 2011 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Xavi | Barcelona |
| 2012 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Andres Iniesta | Barcelona |
| 2013 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Franck Ribery | Bayern Munich |
| 2014 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Manuel Neuer | Bayern Munich |
| 2015 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Neymar | Barcelona |
Additional reporting by Vishal JC
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