The 2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony is right around the corner and another star will go down in the award’s storied history as its next winner.
Lionel Messi is the current award holder but will relinquish his crown for this year at least, having not been nominated for the men’s award. Karim Benzema is the runaway favourite after an excellent year with Real Madrid, but he’ll be pushed all the way by other stars throughout Europe.
Here’s the breakdown of Ballon d’Or winners by league.
La Liga
La Liga is the most successful league for Ballon d’Or wins, raking in 23 over the years.
Just under half of those have come courtesy of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, though Johan Cruyff and Alfredi Di Stefano also scored multiple wins at Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
Serie A
Serie A follow close behind thanks to their spate of victories in the 1980s and 1990s.
The now-disgraced Michel Platini won the award three years on the trot with Juventus, while the city of Milan also boast winners like Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Lothar Matthaus.
There hasn’t been a winner from Serie A since 2007, when Kaka scooped the gong while playing for AC Milan.
Bundesliga
Some German greats have also enjoyed success in the Ballon d’Or, with national team heroes Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge each scooping the award twice.
Former England midfielder Kevin Keegan was also widely seen as the best player in the world during the late 1970s and won two awards with Hamburg.
English First Division/Premier League
While their teams have won their fair share of European Cups and Champions Leagues, the old First Division and Premier League only have a select number of Ballon d’Or wins.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s win with Manchester United and Michael Owen’s success with Liverpool rank among the standouts performers, though legends like Bobby Charlton and Stanley Matthews also won the award.
Soviet Top League
Teams part of the Soviet Union still have a better record in the Ballon d’Or than most existing nations.
Lev Yashin triumphed with Dynamo Moscow and remains the only goalkeeper ever to win the award, though Ukrainians Dynamo Kyiv were more successful with two victories.
Ligue 1
Have Lionel Messi’s performances at Paris Saint-Germain warranted him a Ballon d’Or? No. Was he at the club when the prize was awarded? Yes.
Jean-Pierre Papin was Ligue 1’s first winner thanks to his performances with Marseille in 1991.
Czechoslovak First League
Josef Masopust of Dukla Prague is the sole representative from the Czechoslovak First League, a division he won eight times.
He led Czechoslovakia to third place at the 1960 Euros and runners-up at the 1962 World Cup.
Hungarian League
Florian Albert is a Hungarian football legend who won the Ballon d’Or in 1967 while at Ferencvaros, where he spent all of his professional career.
In 1967, he won the Hungarian league title and and also collected the Hungarian Player of the Year title.
Eredivisie
Ajax fans could easily claim Johan Cruyff’s two further Ballon d’Or wins with Barcelona as their own, but alas, we find no room for such sentiment.
Cruyff’s win remains the Dutch club’s only Ballon d’Or winner, though Dennis Bergkamp and Jari Litmanen later finished in the top three of voting.
Primeira Liga
Easily one of the best players in world football during the 1960s, Eusebio was ridiculously prolific for both Benfica and Portugal.
He scooped the award in 1965 and was also a runner up in both 1962 and 1966.
Lionel Messi is the most accomplished player in the history of the Ballon d’Or, scooping the award on seven separate occasions. He extended his lead over long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo to two last year, with Ronaldo in second with five wins.
Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten are each three-time winners, while Franz Beckenbauer, Ronaldo, Alfredo Di Stefano, Kevin Keegan and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge are also multi-time winners.
