Lionel Messi was crowned the best footbal player of the world with the Ballon d'Or award on Monday. He won the prestigious award for the record 8th time and is now three awards clear of his closest rival Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo who has won it on five occasions. To win this year's award, Messi defeated Erling Haaland who was absoutely terrific entire year as well but he bagged the Gerd Muller trophy after becoming the highest scorer in Europe with 56 goals last season.
For the unversed, Messi first won the Ballon d'Or back in 2009 and won it for next four years until 2012 and then won it in 2015, 2019 and 2021 before winning it again this year. Karim Benzema had won the Ballon d'Or last year while only once, in 2020, the award was't given to any player due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Ballon d'Or award is being given to the best footbal player of the year since 1956 with Stanley Matthews of Blackpool being the first ever winner of the award. In Women's football, Megan Rapinoe of Reign was the first winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2019 even Alexia Putellas of Barcelona won it in 2021 and 2022. Aitana Bonmati of Barcelona was honoured with the prestigious prize this time around.
Here's a list of all the award winners:
Men's Category:
1956 - Stanley Matthews, Blackpool
1957 - Alfredo Di Stefano, Real Madrid
1958 - Raymond Kopa, Real Madrid
1959 - Alfredo Di Stefano, Real Madrid
1960 - Luis Suarez, Barcelona
1961 - Omar Sivori, Juventus
1962 - Josef Masopust, Dukla Prague
1963 - Lev Yashin, Dynamo Moscow
1964 - Denis Law, Manchester United
1965 - Eusebio, Benfica
1966 - Bobby Charlton, Manchester United
1967 - Florian Albert, Ferencvaros
1968 - George Best, Manchester United
1969 - Gianni Rivera, AC Milan
1970 - Gerd Muller, Bayern Munich
1971 - Johan Cruyff, Ajax
1972 - Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern Munich
1973 - Johan Cruyff, Barcelona
1974 - Johan Cruyff, Barcelona
1975 - Oleg Blokhin, Dynamo Kiev
1976 - Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern Munich
1977 - Allan Simonsen, Borussia Moenchengladbach
1978 - Kevin Keegan, Hamburg SV
1979 - Kevin Keegan, Hamburg SV
1980 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich
1981 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich
1982 - Paolo Rossi, Juventus
1983 - Michel Platini, Juventus
1984 - Michel Platini, Juventus
1985 - Michel Platini, Juventus
1986 - Igor Belanov, Dynamo Kiev
1987 - Ruud Gullit, AC Milan
1988 - Marco van Basten, AC Milan
1989 - Marco van Basten, AC Milan
1990 - Lothar Matthaeus, Inter Milan
1991 - Jean-Pierre Papin, Marseille
1992 - Marco van Basten, AC Milan
1993 - Roberto Baggio, Juventus
1994 - Hristo Stoichkov, Barcelona
1995 - George Weah, AC Milan
1996 - Matthias Sammer, Borussia Dortmund
1997 - Ronaldo, Inter Milan
1998 - Zinedine Zidane, Juventus
1999 - Rivaldo, Barcelona
2000 - Luis Figo, Real Madrid
2001 - Michael Owen, Liverpool
2002 - Ronaldo, Real Madrid
2003 - Pavel Nedved, Juventus
2004 - Andriy Shevchenko, AC Milan
2005 - Ronaldinho, Barcelona
2006 - Fabio Cannavaro, Juventus-Real Madrid
2007 - Kaka, AC Milan
2008 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United
2009 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona
2010 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona
2011 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona
2012 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona
2013 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
2014 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
2015 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona
2016 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
2017 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
2018 - Luka Modric, Real Madrid
2019 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona
2020 - Canceled
2021 - Lionel Messi, Barcelona-Paris Saint-Germain
2022 - Karim Benzema, Real Madrid
2023 - Lionel Messi, Paris Saint-Germain
Women's category
2019 - Megan Rapinoe, Reign
2020 - Canceled
2021 - Alexia Putellas, Barcelona
2022 - Alexia Putellas, Barcelona
2023 - Aitana Bonmati, Barcelona
