These male soccer players have been awarded the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) the most times:
* 7: Lionel Messi (Argentina).
* 5: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).
* 3: Johan Cruyff (Netherlands), Michel Platini (France ) and Marco van Basten (Netherlands).
* 2: Franz Beckenbauer (Germany ), Kevin Keegan (England), Ronaldo (Brazil), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Germany ) and Alfredo Di Stéfano (Spain).
* 34 players have won the Golden Ball once. (NTB)
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Messi left Barcelona this summer, almost 18 years after making his debut for the club’s first team, and signing for Paris Saint-Germain.
After the speech, a video was put on where Messi got to see video greetings from, among others, Luis Suárez and Sergio Agüero. The Argentine seemed clearly moved and had to wipe away a tear, before Suárez himself came on stage and gave the trophy to Messi.
Messi has finished among the top three in the selection in 13 of the last 14 awards, with the 2018 selection as the only time he has finished outside the top three. The Argentine then became number five.
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Men:
1. Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain / Argentina) – 613 points 2. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich / Poland) – 580 poeng 3. Jorginho (Chelsea/Italy) – 460 poeng Karim Benzema (Real Madrid / France ) – 239 points 5. Kolo Kanté (Chelsea / France ) – 186 poeng 6. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United/Portugal) – 178 poeng 7. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool / Egypt) – 121 points 8. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City / Belgium) – 73 points 9. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain / France ) – 58 points 10. Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain / Italia) – 36 points 11. Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund / Norway) – 33 points 12. Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea/Belgium) – 26 poeng 13. Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus / Italy) – 26 poeng 14. Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus / Italy) – 18 poeng 15. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City / England) – 10 points 16. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain / Brazil) – 9 points 17. Luis Suárez (Atlético Madrid / Uruguay) – 8 points 18. Simon Kjær (AC Milan / Denmark) – 8 points 19. Mason Mount (Chelsea / England) – 7 points 20. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City / Algeria) – 7 points 21. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United / Portugal) – 6 points 21. Lautaro Martínez (Inter / Argentina) – 6 points 23. Harry Kane (Tottenham / England) – 4 points 24. Pedri (Barcelona / Spain) – 3 points 25. Phil Foden (Manchester City / England) – 2 points 26. Nicolò Barella (Inter / Italy) – 1 poeng 26. Rúben Dias (Manchester City/Portugal) – 1 poeng 26. Gerard Moreno (Villarreal / Spain) – 1 point 29. Luka Modric (Real Madrid / Croatia) – 0 points 29. César Azpilicueta (Chelsea / Spain) – 0 points
Women:
1. Alexia Putellas (Barcelona / Spain) – 186 points 2. Jennifer Hermoso (Barcelona / Spain) – 84 points 3. Sam Kerr (Chelsea / Australia) – 46 points 4. Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal / Netherlands) – 46 points 5. Lieke Martens (Barcelona / Netherlands) – 40 points 6. Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns/Canada) – 36 poeng 7. Pernille Harder (Chelsea / Denmark) – 33 points 8. Ashley Lawrence (Paris Saint-Germain / Canada) – 26 points 9. Jessie Fleming (Chelsea / Canada) – 25 points 10. Fran Kirby (Chelsea / England) – 22 points 11. Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea / Sweden) – 20 points 12. Christiane Endler (Lyon / Chile) – 19 points 13. Stina Blackstenius (Häcken / Sweden) – 10 points 14. Samantha Mewis (Manchester City / USA ) – 8 points 15. Irene Paredes (Barcelona / Spain) – 8 points 16. Ellen White (Manchester City / Argentina) – 4 points 17. Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain/Frankrike) – 3 poeng 18. Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris Saint-Germain / France ) – 3 points 19. Sandra Paños (Barcelona / Spain) – 3 points 20. Wendie Renard (Lyon / France ) – 2 points
The voices come from football journalists around the world . They rank the players they think are the top five, who get points according to the following scale: 6-4-3-3-2.
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Photo: Sofascore
Graphics: Sofascore.com
No prize was awarded in 2020, but Messi was clear on Monday as to who should receive it.
– I would like to mention Robert Lewandowski. It has been an honor to compete with you. Everyone knows and we agree that you were the winner last year. I think France Football should give you the Ballon d’Or in 2020. You deserve it and you should have it at home, says Messi.
All five of Messi’s second places have come this year where Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Golden Ball. The two are the two most winning players in the history of the Golden Ball, and have won seven and five times respectively. Just before Messi received the award, Ronaldo posted a long post on Instagram, where he accused the editor of France Football – the magazine behind the Ballon d’Or – of lying.
The Ballon d’Or has only been awarded to women twice before. Ada Stolsmo Hegerberg won the award when it was awarded for the first time in 2018, which is consequently the best Norwegian result in the Ballon d’Or. No Norwegian women were nominated for the award this year, which was won by Alexia Putellas.
The 27-year-old Spaniard plays alongside Caroline Graham Hansen in Barcelona, who last season won the cup and series in Spain, in addition to winning the Champions League.
Putellas won ahead of teammate Jennifer Hermoso and Chelsea star Sam Kerr.
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WON: Alexia Putellas with the Golden Ball. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Earlier in the evening, it became clear that Erling Braut Haaland finished in eleventh place in the selection, the best result for a Norwegian men’s player in the Ballon d’Or.
Haaland is the first Norwegian men’s player to have been nominated for the award since Bent Skammelsrud in 1997. Skammelsrud was then number 33, while Rune Bratseth ended up in 20th and 15th place respectively in 1992 and 1993.
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EQUALLY OUTSIDE TOP TEN: Erling Braut Haaland came in eleventh place in the Ballon d’Or 2021. Photo: CATHRIN MUELLER / X07339
A number of other prizes were also awarded on Monday night.
Pedri had his big breakthrough last season and won the Kopa trophy as best U21 player ahead of Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala.
Robert Lewandowski was named striker of the year, while Gianluigi Donnarumma received the Jasjin trophy as goalkeeper of the year.
The Danish national team captain Simon Kjær was praised for how he handled the situation when Christian Eriksen fell over during the European Championship match against Finland.
Chelsea received the award as club of the year.
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