The Ballon d’Or went to a new home again this year, as Paris Saint-Germain and France star Ousmane Dembele beat Lamine Yamal to the honor of top player in men’s football for the 2024-25 season.
Rodri, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Luka Modric were all off the shortlist and the only players to win the award since Kaka took home the honor in 2007.
[ MORE: Who should win the Ballon d’Or 2024? ]
For the fourth-straight season, the award honored the best player from the 2024-25 season instead of the calendar year..
Who has won more Ballons d’Or: Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?
Messi has won the most Ballons d’Or ever: 8. Ronaldo has the second-most with five.
How many players have won multiple Ballons d’Or?
After Messi’s eight and Ronaldo’s five, there are three players who have won three awards — Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff, and Marco van Basten — and five players have claimed two. Those players are Franz Beckenbauer, Ronaldo, Alfredo Di Stefano, Kevin Keegan, and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
List of all Ballon d’Or winners: 1961-present
- 1956: Stanley Matthews — Blackpool and England
- 1957: Alfredo Di Stafano — Real Madrid and Spain
- 1958: Raymond Kopa — Real Madrid and France
- 1959: Alfredo Di Stefano (2) — Real Madrid and Spain
- 1960: Luis Suarez — Barcelona and Spain
- 1961: Omar Sivori — Juventus and Italy
- 1962: Josef Masopust — Dukla Prague and Czechoslovakia
- 1963: Lev Yashin — Dynamo Moscow and USSR
- 1964: Denis Law — Manchester United and Scotland
- 1965: Eusebio — Benfica and Portugal
- 1966: Bobby Charlton — Manchester United and England
- 1967: Florian Albert — Ferencvaros and Hungary
- 1968: George Best — Manchester United and Northern Ireland
- 1969: Gianni Rivera — AC Milan and Italy
- 1970: Gerd Muller — Bayern Munich and Germany
- 1971: Johan Cruyff — Ajax and Netherlands
- 1972: Franz Beckenbauer — Bayern Munich and West Germany
- 1973: Johan Cruyff (2) — Barcelona and Netherlands
- 1974: Johan Cruyff (3) — Barcelona and Netherlands
- 1975: Oleg Blokhin — Dynamo Kyiv and USSR
- 1976: Franz Beckenbauer (2) — Bayern Munich and West Germany
- 1977: Allan Simonsen — Borussia Monchengladbach and Denmark
- 1978: Kevin Keegan — Hamburg and England
- 1979: Kevin Keegan (2) — Hamburg and England
- 1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge — Bayern Munich and West Germany
- 1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (2) — Bayern Munich and West Germany
- 1982: Paolo Rossi — Juventus and Italy
- 1983: Michel Platini — France and Juventus
- 1984: Michel Platini (2) — France and Juventus
- 1985: Michel Platini (3) — France and Juventus
- 1986: Igor Belanov — Dynamo Kyiv and USSR
- 1987: Ruud Gullit — AC Milan and Netherlands
- 1988: Marco van Basten — AC Milan and Netherlands
- 1989: Marco van Basten (2) — AC Milan and Netherlands
- 1990: Lothar Matthaus — Inter Milan and Germany
- 1991: Jean-Pierre Papin — Marseille and France
- 1992: Marco van Basten (3) — AC Milan and Netherlands
- 1993: Roberto Baggio — Juventus and Italy
- 1994: Hristo Stoichkov — Barcelona and Bulgaria
- 1995: George Weah — AC Milan and Liberia
- 1996: Matthias Sammer — Borussia Dortmund and Germany
- 1997: Ronaldo — Inter Milan and Brazil
- 1998: Zinedine Zidane — Juventus and France
- 1999: Rivaldo — Barcelona and Brazil
- 2000: Luis Figo — Real Madrid and Portugal
- 2001: Michael Owen — Liverpool and England
- 2002: Ronaldo (2) — Real Madrid and Brazil
- 2003: Pavel Nedved — Juventus and Czech Republic
- 2004: Andriy Shevchenko — AC Milan and Ukraine
- 2005: Ronaldinho — Barcelona and Brazil
- 2006: Fabio Cannavaro — Real Madrid and Italy
- 2007: Kaka — AC Milan and Brazil
- 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo — Manchester United and Portugal
- 2009: Lionel Messi — Barcelona and Argentina
- 2010: Lionel Messi (2) — Barcelona and Argentina
- 2011: Lionel Messi (3) — Barcelona and Argentina
- 2012: Lionel Messi (4) — Barcelona and Argentina
- 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo (2) — Real Madrid and Portugal
- 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo (3) — Real Madrid and Portugal
- 2015: Lionel Messi (5) — Barcelona and Argentina
- 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo (4) — Real Madrid and Portugal
- 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo (5) — Real Madrid and Portugal
- 2018: Luka Modric — Real Madrid and Croatia
- 2019: Lionel Messi (6) — Barcelona and Argentina
- 2020: Not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021: Lionel Messi (7) — Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina
- 2022: Karim Benzema — Real Madrid and France
- 2023: Lionel Messi (8) — Inter Miami and Argentina
- 2024: Rodri — Manchester City and Spain
- 2025: Ousmane Dembele — Paris Saint-Germain and France
