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.
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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.
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
