History of the Ballon d’Or The concept of awarding the best European player each year was started by the French magazine France Football, which first came up with the idea in 1956. The idea conceived
Germany and the Netherlands (7) The two rival nations have been the most dominant at the Ballon d’Or awards with their players collecting seven gongs each. For Germany the first win came from Gerd Muller,
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have shared an intense rivalry over the course of their careers and are often mentioned in conversations about the greatest footballers of all time. However, such rivalry is not unique
It has been quite well established that the Ballon d’Or votes tend to go more in favour of the attacking players than their defensive counterparts. But does age also play a significant part in the
Here's the list of the top European clubs with most Ballon d'Or winners in their ranks throughout the history of the prestigious award. Barcelona (11) The Catalan giants lead the clubs with most Ballon d’Or
The Ballon d’Or ceremony next year is likely to again be dominated by the LaLiga players. More specifically, players from Real Madrid and Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed another stellar season at the Santiago Bernabeu as
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have established a sort of hegemony on the best player in the world award, pocketing between themselves the last eight editions of the Ballon d’Or. Their utter stranglehold over the
Since 2008 Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have grabbed all the Ballon d’Or awards. The Argentine has won an unprecedented five, while the Portuguese has finished atop the podium thrice. But what if the duo
Criteria The selection criteria for the Ballon d’Or is quite extensive. The award takes into consideration not a full European season that generally takes place between the period of August to May, but performances are
Michael Owen (2001) The 2000/01 season was a very successful one for Liverpool as they collected a treble of cups - the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the League Cup. At the forefront of