Football is a game of opinions, but the Ballon d'Or winners list is supposedly the definitive ledger of greatness.
Every year, France Football hands out a golden orb, and every year, fans lose their minds. We talk about "robberies" and "PR wins" like it’s a political election. Honestly, it kind of is. Since 1956, the award has mutated from a quiet European journalist's vote into a global circus.
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You’ve got the Messi and Ronaldo era, which basically broke the trophy for fifteen years. Then you have the weird early days when South Americans weren't even allowed to win. Imagine a world where Pelé and Maradona don't have a single Ballon d'Or on their mantels. That’s the reality.
The Wizard who started it all
In 1956, the first-ever trophy didn't go to a young phenom. It went to Stanley Matthews, a 41-year-old winger for Blackpool.
People think the award has always been about the best player in the world, but Matthews' win was basically a "lifetime achievement" award. He was the "Wizard of the Dribble," a guy who supposedly warmed up in lead-weighted boots to make his feet feel light as feathers during the game. He beat Alfredo Di Stéfano by a handful of votes.
Di Stéfano was the real engine of the era. He won it in '57 and '59, but because of a weird "no repeat winners" rule that existed briefly, he missed out on more. The early years were a mess of strange regulations and limited scope.
When the Ballon d'Or finally went global
For nearly four decades, if you weren't European, you didn't exist to France Football. This is why the Ballon d'Or winners list looks so lopsided when you look at the 20th century.
Everything changed in 1995.
George Weah happened.
The Liberian striker was a force of nature for AC Milan and PSG. He wasn't just a goalscorer; he was a creator who would pick the ball up in his own half and leave defenders looking like they were stuck in mud. When the rules changed to allow non-Europeans playing in Europe to win, Weah took the crown immediately.
He remains the only African player to ever win it.
Think about that for a second. In thirty years of "global" eligibility, only one African has stood on that podium as number one. Not Eto'o, not Drogba, not Salah. It’s a stat that feels increasingly wrong the longer you look at it.
The era of the two-man monopoly
Then we hit the 2000s. Specifically, 2008.
Cristiano Ronaldo wins his first with Manchester United. A year later, Lionel Messi starts his run. For the next decade-plus, they turned the Ballon d'Or winners circle into a private VIP lounge.
- Lionel Messi (8 wins): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023.
- Cristiano Ronaldo (5 wins): 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017.
Thirteen trophies between two guys. It's stupid. It’s unprecedented.
The most controversial of these? Probably 2010. Wesley Sneijder won the treble with Inter Milan and dragged the Netherlands to a World Cup final. He didn't even make the top three. Messi won it instead. Then you have 2021, where Robert Lewandowski had a season for the ages, only for Messi to edge him out again after winning the Copa América.
Even the players know the voting is weird. Ronaldo recently called the awards "fictional" after being left off recent shortlists.
The modern shift: Rodri and Dembélé
We are finally, mercifully, out of the "Big Two" era.
In 2024, Rodri broke the trend. A defensive midfielder winning is rare. In fact, before him, you had to go back to Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 or Matthias Sammer in 1996 to find a winner who wasn't a dedicated "flair" player or striker. Rodri’s win was a victory for the "invisible" work—the passing lanes, the tactical fouls, the tempo control.
Then came the 2025 ceremony.
Ousmane Dembélé shocked a lot of people by taking the 2025 Ballon d'Or. After leading PSG to their first-ever Champions League title, his "game-breaking brilliance" finally outweighed his reputation for inconsistency. He beat out Lamine Yamal, who at just 18 years old, nearly became the youngest winner ever.
It feels like the award is moving back toward rewarding the "hero of the season" rather than just the biggest name on the planet.
The Women's Ballon d'Or: A new dynasty
We can't talk about winners without the Ballon d'Or Féminin. It only started in 2018, but it’s already got its own GOAT debate.
Aitana Bonmatí is currently doing to the women's game what Messi did to the men's. She just bagged her third consecutive trophy in 2025.
- 2018: Ada Hegerberg (The first-ever winner)
- 2019: Megan Rapinoe (The World Cup icon)
- 2021-2022: Alexia Putellas (The Barcelona captain)
- 2023-2025: Aitana Bonmatí (The current queen)
The dominance of Barcelona Femení is staggering. They’ve basically owned the trophy for half a decade.
Why the list still matters (and why it doesn't)
Is the Ballon d'Or a perfect metric? No. It’s a beauty contest judged by journalists.
But it’s the only beauty contest we have that carries this much weight. When we look back at the history of the game, we don't look at "expected goals" or "progressive carries." We look at who held the gold ball.
It tells the story of the game's evolution—from the aging English gentlemen of the 50s to the tactical Spanish midfielders of the 2020s.
If you want to understand the history of football, don't just look at the names. Look at the snubs. Look at the years they didn't give it out (shoutout to 2020 and the robbery of Lewandowski).
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What you should do next:
Go watch the 1995 highlights of George Weah. Seriously. If you think modern strikers are fast, you haven't seen anything yet. Then, check out the 2025 voting breakdown for Dembélé and Lamine Yamal to see just how close the new generation is to taking over completely. The "Old Guard" is officially gone.