Ballon d’Or is an award given yearly to players who have performed significantly well for their country and club over a football season. The Ballon d’Or trophy was first awarded to a player in 1956. However, the 2022 award ceremony will take place on the 17th of October at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris along with the female Ballon d’Or which was created in 2018. Nevertheless, below are the important Ballon d’Or facts you may not know about.
1. No Asian/North American Player has Won Ballon D’or ever
One of the first important fact about the ballon d’or since it has been established is that no Asian player or player from North America has ever won the award, and even Africa as a continent have one award to their motherland which was won by George Weah in 1995 when he played for AC Milan. George Weah who later became the president of his country Liberia in 2017, is the only African to have won the award.
2. South America has won Ballon d’Or 12 times
South America as a continent has won the award a good twelve times with Argentina through Lionel Messi bagging 7 out of the 12, and the remaining 5 were from Brazilians. However, the European players have won awards 51 times.
3. John Cruyff is the First Player to Win Ballon d’Or Consecutively
John Cruyff is the first player in history to have won the award consecutively (1973,1974), the Netherlands man, who played for Barcelona first won the award in 1971, before winning it twice again. Although, John Cruyff was the first player to have won it consecutively. There are now a total number of 7(seven) players who have won the award consecutively.
7 Players who have won Ballon d’Or consecutively:
- John Cruyff (1973, 1974) – first won the award in 1971 and was the first Netherlands player to win the award twice.
- Kelvin Keegan (1978, 1979) – the first and the only English player to win the award twice.
- Kail-heinz Rummenigga (1980, 1981).
- Micheal Platini (1983, 1984, 1985) – Micheal Platini broke John Cruyff, by being the first player to win the award three good times consecutively.
- Marco-Van Basten (1988, 1989).
- Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) – an important fact is that Lionel Messi is the first player to win the award four times consecutively from 2009 -2012 and also currently holds the position of the player with the highest number of the award which is (7) seven (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021).
- Christiano Ronaldo – 2013, 2014 and 2016, 2017. An important fact about Christiano Ronaldo is the first player who was won the award playing for different clubs and also the only player in history to have been nominated for the award 18 times.
4. Neither Pele Nor Maradona ever won the Ballon d’Or.
Another important factor about the Ballon d’Or is that neither Pele, the Brazilian legend, who is considered one of the greatest footballers ever to live, nor Maradona the Argentinian ever won the Ballon d’Or. However, both players were given the honorary ward of football of the year with People with five and Maradona with three.
5. Blackpool is the first club to win Ballon d’Or
The first club to have their player win Ballon d’Or is Blackpool, a football club in England that has been relegated from the English top flight since
6. No Goalkeeper has ever won Ballon d’Or
Another important fact about the Ballon d’Or is that no goalkeeper has ever won the award and the only defender to win the award was Fabio Cannavaro of Italy in 2006.
