Ballon d’Or: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and all the others to have won the prestigious award in the past

The 66th Ballon d'Or is set to be awarded this evening (Monday, October 17) in Paris, with many players hoping to follow in the footsteps of icons such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is the red-hot favorite to win football's most prestigious individual honor. The French forward scored 44 times in 46 appearances across competitions as Los Blancos secured a La Liga and Champions League double last term.

This year's prize is the first in history to be awarded for performances over a season rather than in a calendar year. The Ballon d'Or is being awarded much earlier than usual, with the upcoming FIFA World Cup set to take place later in the year.

Lionel Messi is the current record holder in terms of how many times he has won the award, with seven wins in total. He has won the past two Ballon d'Ors, although the prize was not given out in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The award will certainly leave Messi's grasp this evening, as the Paris Saint-Germain forward has not even been nominated for the historic trophy. Cristiano Ronaldo is second on the list of wins with five and although the Manchester United striker has been nominated this year, it is unlikely he will win it.

Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Croatia is the only man the past 14 years not named Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi to win the Ballon d'Or. Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are among the favorites to win in Paris, but are unlikely to be chosen ahead of Benzema.

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List of previous Ballon d'Or winners with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo leading the way

Since the Ballon d'Or's inception in 1956, Messi and Ronaldo have won nearly 20% of all the titles. Below is a list of every winner of the prize, from Sir Stanley Matthews in 1956, to Messi in 2021:

Year	Winner	Club	Nation
1956	Sir Stanley Matthews	Blackpool	England
1957	Alfredo Di Stefano	Real Madrid	Spain
1958	Raymond Kopa	Real Madrid	France
1959	Alfredo Di Stefano	Real Madrid	Spain
1960	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	Spain
1961	Omar Sivori	Juventus	Italy
1962	Josef Masopust	Dukla Prague	Czechoslovakia
1963	Lev Yashin	Dynamo Moscow	USSR
1964	Dennis Law	Manchester United	Scotland
1965	Eusebio	Benfica	Portugal
1966	Sir Bobby Charlton	Manchester United	England
1967	Florian Albert	Ferencvaros	Hungary
1968	George Best	Manchester United	Northern Ireland
1969	Gianni Rivera	AC Milan	Italy
1970	Gerd Muller	Bayern Munich	West Germany
1971	Johan Cruyff	Ajax	Netherlands
1972	Franz Beckenbauer	Bayern Munich	West Germany
1973	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	Netherlands
1974	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	Netherlands
1975	Oleg Blokhin	Dynamo Kyiv	USSR
1976	Franz Beckenbauer	Bayern Munich	West Germany
1977	Allan Simonsen	Borussia Monchengladbach	West Germany
1978	Kevin Keegan	Hamburger SV	England
1979	Kevin Keegan	Hamburger SV	England
1980	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	Bayern Munich	West Germany
1981	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	Bayern Munich	West Germany
1982	Paolo Rossi	Juventus	Italy
1983	Michel Platini	Juventus	France
1984	Michel Platini	Juventus	France
1985	Michel Platini	Juventus	France
1986	Igor Belanov	Dynamo Kyiv	USSR
1987	Ruud Gullit	AC Milan	Netherlands
1988	Marco van Basten	AC Milan	Netherlands
1989	Marco van Basten	AC Milan	Netherlands
1990	Lothar Matthaus	Inter Milan	West Germany
1991	Jean-Pierre Papin	Marseille	France
1992	Marco van Basten	AC Milan	Netherlands
1993	Roberto Baggio	Juventus	Italy
1994	Hristo Stoichkov	Barcelona	Bulgaria
1995	George Weah	AC Milan	Liberia
1996	Matthias Sammer	Borussia Dortmund	Germany
1997	Ronaldo	Inter Milan	Brazil
1998	Zinedine Zidane	Juventus	France
1999	Rivaldo	Barcelona	Brazil
2000	Luis Figo	Real Madrid	Portugal
2001	Michael Owen	Liverpool	England
2002	Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Brazil
2003	Pavel Nedved	Juventus	Czech Republic
2004	Andriy Shevchenko	AC Milan	Ukraine
2005	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	Brazil
2006	Fabio Cannavaro	Real Madrid	Italy
2007	Kaka	AC Milan	Brazil
2008	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	Portugal
2009	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Argentina
2010	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Argentina
2011	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Argentina
2012	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Argentina
2013	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Marid	Portugal
2014	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Portugal
2015	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Argentina
2016	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Portugal
2017	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Portugal
2018	Luka Modric	Real Madrid	Croatia
2019	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Argentina
2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
2021	Lionel Messi	PSG	Argentina