Ballon d'Or winners by position
- The illustrious Ballon d'Or has been dominated by forwards since 1956 inauguration
- 45 of the awards have been won by forwards
- Only four defenders have claimed the prize
By Henry Burt
As the football season ramps up to its busy winter schedule, one thing is always on everybody's mind: namely, who will take home the coveted Ballon d'Or trophy.
For over 60 years, the award has served as the highest individual accolade a footballer can win, marking them out from their peers as the best of the best and honouring their achievements at both club and international level.
Since 2008, only two players not named Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi has won the award: Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, who scooped up the prize in 2018 on the back of a third consecutive Champions League win and a run to the World Cup final with Croatia, and teammate Karim Benzema, who scooped the 2022 edition after a breathtaking season in the Spanish capital.
Even before the dominance of Messi and Ronaldo, the award has always seemed to favour forwards more than players in other positions. But which position boasts the most winners over history?
Ballon d'Or winners by position
Goalkeepers
- Number of wins: 1
- Players who have won the award: Lev Yashin (USSR)
A goalkeeper winning the Ballon d'Or today is all but unthinkable, with even the best shot stoppers of modern times failing to pick up the award. To date, the only keeper to win the Ballon D'or is the legendary Lev Yashin back in 1963.
Credited with pioneering the concept of the 'sweeper keeper', Yashin was known for his powerful presence in the box and ability to rush out and claim the ball from oncoming attackers, paving the way for the likes of Ederson and Manuel Neuer in the modern era.
Centre-backs
- Number of wins: 4
- Players who have won the award: Franz Beckenbauer (Germany), Matthias Sammer (Germany), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
Another position consistently overlooked in the race for the Ballon d'Or, only two centre backs have won the award in its 66-year history.
Franz Beckenbauer, the iconic German defender and inventor of the libero position, picked up the award in 1972 and again in 1976. After that, it would be another 30 years before a centre-back won the award, when Italy's Fabio Cannavaro led his country to their fourth World Cup victory in 2006.
Full-backs
Number of wins: 0
Players who have won the award: 0
If you're Trent Alexander-Arnold or Joao Cancelo, look away now because this section makes for grim reading.
No full-back has ever won the Ballon d'Or. This feels like a major oversight, until you remember that full-backs only became proper footballers in 2017 when Manchester City spent £50m on Kyle Walker.
As full-backs continue to become pivotal to the systems of the world's top sides, perhaps we can expect to see one or two join the ranks of the elite in years to come. With Alexander-Arnold and Cancelo among the nominees for the 2022 award, perhaps this could be the year?
Central midfielders
- Number of wins: 3
- Players who have won the award: Josef Masopust (Czechoslovakia), Lothar Matthaus (Germany), Luka Modric (Croatia)
The game can be won and lost in midfield, or so they say. Even so, only three central midfielders have managed to win the Ballon d'Or since the inception of the award.
Modric's unbelievable performances in 2018 broke up the hegemony of Messi and Ronaldo, but it was the likes of Josef Masopust and Lothar Matthaus who paved the way for the Croatian. Perhaps Pedri or Jude Bellingham could join this list over the coming decade?
Attacking midfielders
- Number of wins: 8
- Players who have won the award: Raymond Kopa (France), Gianni Rivera (Italy), Michel Platini (France), Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), Zinedine Zidane (France), Kaka (Brazil)
Now we're talking. As we move into the more offensive positions, let's take a look at all the attacking midfielders to win the Ballon d'Or.
France have produced a conveyor belt of elegant no. 10s in recent years and they dominate this section of the list, with Michel Platini winning the award three times on his own in the 1980s. The last attacking midfielder to win the Ballon d'Or was Brazilian ace Kaka, who won on the back of a Champions League win with AC Milan in 2007.
Wingers
- Number of wins: 6
- Players who have won the award: Stanley Matthews (England), Luis Suarez (Spain), George Best (Northern Ireland), Luis Figo (Portugal), Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic), Ronaldinho (Brazil)
This section would look a little more impressive if we counted Ronaldo and Messi as wingers, but both players have operated more as out-and-out forwards in recent years so we've opted against doing that. Even so, the list of wingers to win the Ballon d'Or boasts some rather impressive names.
Stanley Matthews was the inaugural winner of the award back in 1956. Since then, he's been joined by the likes of George Best, Luis Figo and Ronaldinho - all dazzling players who are still talked about today. It surely won't be long before another winger joins this list.
Forwards
- Number of wins: 45
- Players who have won the award: Alfredo Di Stefano (Spain), Omar Sivori (Italy), Denis Law (Scotland), Eusebio (Portugal), Bobby Charlton (England), Florian Albert (Hungary), Gerd Muller (Germany), Johan Cruyff (Netherlands), Oleg Blokhin (USSR), Allan Simonsen (Denmark), Kevin Keegan (England), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Germany), Paolo Rossi (Italy), Igor Belanov (USSR), Marco van Basten (Netherlands), Jean-Pierre Papin (France), Roberto Baggio (Italy), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), George Weah (Liberia), Ronaldo (Brazil), Rivaldo (Brazil), Michael Owen (England), Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France)
Critics of the Ballon d'Or claim it skews too far in favour of strikers and forwards, with other positions overlooked. Why on Earth would they think that?
It's often said that scoring a goal is the hardest thing to do in football, so maybe it's fair that all these incredible goalscorers have beaten their contemporaries to football's highest individual accolade. It should also be noted that Messi and Ronaldo have 13 awards between them, making the overall list look even more imbalanced. The real question to be asking is which forward is going to win more in the next decade: Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe?