Ballon d'Or winners by country
By Mitch Wilks
As the football calendar hits a busy period towards the end of the year, we always eagerly await the Ballon d'Or awards.
The Ballon d'Or has long been perhaps the most iconic and highly esteemed individual award in world football since its 1956 inception and has been won by a seriously star-studded list of names throughout the years.
Lionel Messi is the most recent recipient of the award, winning it for the eighth time in 2023. He remains the only Argentinian to claim this illustrious gong.
We've heard all the great names to have won the Ballon d'Or before - 90min has gone through the winners by league - but do you know how many wins each country has had?
Ballon d'Or winners by country
Argentina
- Players who have won the award: Lionel Messi
- Years won: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023
The only nation to have won the Ballon d'Or eight times, Argentina tops the lot due to the fact that all eight have been won by Messi.
For a nation that is so rich in footballing history and birthed some of the most extraordinary footballers the game has witnessed, it is only Messi who has been able to bring the award home. Diego Maradona, arguably the greatest Argentine player before Messi, was 35 and well past his peak by the time the award was opened up to non-European players in 1995.
Netherlands
- Players who have won the award: Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten
- Years won: 1971, 1973, 1974, 1987, 1988, 1989. 1992
Remarkably, the Dutch haven't had a player of their own win the Ballon d'Or since Marco van Basten lifted it for a third time in 1992. A finalist for the Netherlands at Euro '92 after scoring that goal in the semi-final, he was electric for Milan in the early stages of the 1992/93 campaign.
Van Basten's hat-trick of Ballon d'Or wins is even more special when considering that he was forced into retirement at just 28 years old, a year after his final win. But he wasn't the first player to ever win the award three times; that honour falls to Johan Cruyff, who won it in 1971, 1973 and 1974.
Portugal
- Players who have won the award: Eusebio, Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo
- Years won: 1965, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
Portugal have a rich history with the Ballon d'Or, with Eusebio winning the award as one of the first true superstars in the European game.
All focus ought to be on Ronaldo, who has won the award five times thanks to his freakish firing rate and incredible habit of breaking records. But what really stands out the most among Portuguese wins is the circumstances in which Luis Figo won the Ballon d'Or in 2000; just months after controversially swapping Barcelona for Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee.
Germany
- Players who have won the award: Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthaus, Matthias Sammer
- Years won: 1970, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1996
Yet another footballing institution, it's no surprise to see Germany toward the top of the list. They are also home to one of just two defenders to have won the Ballon d'Or, thanks to Franz Beckenbauer's double swoop in 1972 and 1976.
It's creeping up to 30 years since they've seen a German win the award. Joshua Kimmich and Antonio Rudiger have made the 2022 shortlist, but will struggle to stand out among the attacking talent around them.
France
- Players who have won the award: Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema
- Years won: 1958, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 1998, 2022
A rich history with the award which was birthed in France, Raymond Kopa won the Ballon d'Or two years after its inception while a Real Madrid player. Michel Platini then ended a near three decade wait for another French winner, by going and winning it three times in a row.
Italy
- Players who have won the award: Omar Sivori, Gianni Rivera, Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio, Fabio Cannavaro
- Years won: 1961, 1969, 1982, 1993, 2006
From divine ponytails to iconic defenders and a forward whose World Cup performance remains one of the greatest ever some 40 years later, Italy really have had some stars.
Fabio Cannavaro is the last defender since Beckenbauer to win the Ballon d'Or following his immense displays for Juventus and Italy throughout 2006, before his move to Real Madrid. Gianluigi Buffon and Jorginho have come closest since, but nobody else has joined the club.
Brazil
- Players who have won the award: Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka
- Years won: 1997, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2007
The nation with the most World Cup wins (5) also have five Ballon d'Or wins to their name, split across four winners. Astoundingly, though, Pele is not among those names, as it took until 1997 for them to get off the mark with Ronaldo.
Manchester United fans rue Rivaldo's win in 1999 as he took it out of the hands of David Beckham. Ronaldo came back for more in 2002, before Ronaldinho and Kaka got in on the act. It remains to be seen whether or not Neymar will ever get himself onto the list.
England
- Players who have won the award: Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen
- Years won: 1956, 1966, 1978, 1979, 2001
England have quite the claim to fame in that they were the nation to win the inaugural Ballon d'Or in 1956, as Stanley Matthews - playing for Blackpool at the time - pipped Kopa and Alfredo Di Stefano to the award.
Bobby Charlton won the award exactly a decade later to keep up a healthy record with the Ballon d'Or, while Kevin Keegan dazzled with Hamburg in the 1970s to write his name in the history books. Injuries hadn't yet had their way with a young and relentless Michael Owen in 2001, who won the award while at Liverpool.
Soviet Union
- Players who have won the award: Lev Yashin, Oleg Blokhin, Igor Belanov
- Years won: 1963, 1975, 1986
Before its 1991 dissolution, the Soviet Union were three-time Ballon d'Or winners and got off the mark with Lev Yashin in 1963, who remains the only goalkeeper to win the award.
Oleg Blokhin is still the record scorer and appearance holder for Dynamo Kiev, the top scorer for the Soviet Union and the only player to be capped over 100 times for the nation.
Spain
- Players who have won the award: Alfredo Di Stefano, Luis Suarez
- Years won: 1957, 1959, 1960
Not that one. Instead we're referring to the Spanish Luis Suarez, whose stunning career spanned from 1953 to 1973 and saw him crowned as the only Spanish-born player to date to win the award.
Di Stefano? He was actually born in Argentina, but acquired Spanish citizenship in 1956 which allowed him to be considered for the Ballon d'Or. He went on to be capped 31 times for Spain after that, scoring 23 goals.
Bulgaria
- Players who have won the award: Hristo Stoichkov
- Years won: 1994
'El Pistolero' is remembered famously for his role as the rampant goal getter in Johan Cruyff's Barcelona outfit during the 1990s.
After being named as runner up in the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1992, he won the Ballon d'Or in 1994, while being named runner up again in the same competition, having fired Bulgaria to a World Cup semi-final and Barcelona to La Liga.
Croatia
- Players who have won the award: Luka Modric
- Years won: 2018
Luka Modric was responsible for ending a 10-year long duopoly over the Ballon d'Or orchestrated by Messi and Ronaldo, clinching the award ahead of the latter and third-placed Antoine Griezmann.
Despite helping Croatia to the final of the World Cup, claiming the tournament's Golden Ball award and winning a third consecutive Champions League, many believed there were other more worthy candidates that year.
Czech Republic
- Players who have won the award: Pavel Nedved
- Years won: 2003
Pipping Thierry Henry and Paolo Maldini to the award, Pavel Nedved lifted the Ballon d'Or after proving instrumental as Zidane's replacement at Juventus.
Nedved fired the Old Lady to the Serie A title and was key in their run to the Champions League final, but was suspended for the clash with Milan due to having picked up too many yellow cards. Juve lost on penalties.
Czechoslovakia
- Players who have won the award: Josef Masopust
- Years won: 1962
A midfielder by trade, Josef Masopust was born in the small Czech village of Strimice and saw off Eusebio and Karl-Heinz Schnellinger to win the award in 1962.
He did so in the same year that he featured in the World Cup final for Czechoslovakia, who lost against Brazil.
Denmark
- Players who have won the award: Allan Simonsen
- Years won: 1977
The only player to have scored in the European Cup, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup finals, Allan Simonsen won the Ballon d'Or following a monstrous year at Borussia Monchengladbach.
His efforts were enough to fire them to the final of the European Cup which they lost to Liverpool, narrowly beating Keegan and Platini to become the first and only Dane to date to win the Ballon d'Or.
Hungary
- Players who have won the award: Florian Albert
- Years won: 1967
Florian Albert is a legend of Hungarian football, helping Ferencvaros to four national titles in a mammoth 16-year spell in the first team.
A one club man, he also helped Ferencvaros to their only international title to date in winning the 1965 Fairs Cup, while also starring for Hungary at the 1962 and 1966 World Cups.
Liberia
- Players who have won the award: George Weah
- Years won: 1995
The only African nation in the list, George Weah operated on another level throughout the 1990s and won the award for his exploits at Paris Saint-Germain.
He would join Milan that year and continue to forge a legacy as one of the game's greatest forwards.
Northern Ireland
- Players who have won the award: George Best
- Years won: 1968
'El Beetle' was years ahead of his time and the shining star for Manchester United as they lifted their first European Cup in 1968, ten years on from the club's darkest day.
A career that was unfortunately dampened by his lifestyle off the field, George Best's story is an imperfect one. But when he was at his best and on the pitch, the Northern Irish winger was unworldly.
Scotland
- Players who won the award: Denis Law
- Years won: 1964
Affectionately known as 'The King' by many United fans, it was on the red side of Manchester where Denis Law was crowned Scotland's first and only Ballon d'Or winner to date.
28 league goals in the 1964/65 campaign saw Law prove himself as instrumental to United winning their sixth league title.
Ukraine
- Players who won the award: Andriy Shevchenko
- Years won: 2004
Technically, Milan's all-time scorer isn't the only Ukrainian to win the award, but Andriy Shevchenko is the only player to win it officially under the Ukrainian flag, with Blokhin and Belanov winning it while a part of the Soviet Union.
The Ballon d'Or was the icing on the cake for the forward, who saw off the likes of Deco, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry to clinch the prestigious honour.
READ MORE ON THE 2023 BALLON D'OR NOMINATIONS AND PREDICTED RANKINGS
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