Ballon d’Or is awarded by the French outlet France Football to the best individual player in the preceding year. It is considered the highest individual honour in the world of football.
There have been many greats who have been awarded the Ballon d’Or. However, during the early days, the award was only given to European players, due to which Pele and Maradona were denied the award. Now it is given to the best player regardless of his country.
So, here we take a look at the top 10 countries with the most Ballon d’Or winners in history:
1. Portugal [7]
Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)
Eusebio da Silva Ferreira (1965)
Luis Figo (2000)
2. Germany [7]
Franz Beckenbauer (1972, 1976)
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980, 1981)
Gerd Muller (1970)
Lothar Matthaus (1990)
Matthias Sammer (1996)
3. Netherlands [7]
Johan Cruyff (1971, 1973, 1974)
Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992)
Ruud Gullit (1987)
4. Argentina [6]
Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019)
5. Brazil [5]
Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima (1997, 2002)
Kaka (2007)
Rivaldo (1999)
Ronaldinho (2005)
6. France [5]
Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985)
Raymond Kopa (1958)
Jean-Pierre Papin (1991)
7. England [5]
Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979)
Bobby Charlton (1966)
Stanley Matthews (1956)
Michael Owen (2001)
8. Italy [4]
Fabio Cannavaro (2006)
Gianni Rivera (1969)
Paolo Rossi (1982)
Omar Sivori (1961)
9. Spain [3]
Alfredo Di Stefano (1957, 1959)
Luis Suarez (1960)
10. Soviet Union [3]
Igor Belanov (1986)
Oleg Blokhin (1975)
Lev Yashin (1963)
