Talking about the most prestigious individual award in the world of football.
The Ballon d’or is one of the oldest and most prestigious individual awards in the world of football.
It was started in 1956 by sportswriter Gabriel Hanot and was known as the European Footballer of the Year award. In 1995 the Ballon d’Or was expanded to include all players from any origin that have been active at European clubs. The award became a global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible.
From 1956 to 2006 only football journalists voted but later captains of national teams were also given the right to vote. The first winner of this award was Stanley Matthews who played Blackpool, George Weah was the first African to receive the award and Ronaldo was the first south American to be given the Golden ball. Many greats have won the award and immortalised themselves, for example Johan Cruyff, Michael Platini, Marco van Basten have all won it three times. Other greats like Zidane, Kaka, Rossi, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo have also won the award.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or an incredible 5 times. The first one came with Manchester United in 2008, then in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 he won the title playing for Real Madrid. The former Los Blancos forward has proven to be one of the best if not the best to ever step on to a football pitch. He dominated with Real Madrid winning the Spanish league and the Champions League multiple times. Sir Alex Ferguson scouted young Cristiano form Sporting Lisbon and gave the world of football a hidden gem which hasn’t stopped shining since.
At the very top lies the La Albiceleste captain Lionel Messi. With 6 Ballon d’Or to his name, Messi is regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time. He has won all 6 of those trophies with Barcelona, while guiding them to multiple Spanish cups, La Liga, and Champions league titles in the process. Messi won the treble with Barcelona in 2015 winning both domestic cups and the European championship. Among all these successful years lies a monster of a season too. In 2012, Lionel Messi broke the previous record of Ger Muller (85) and scored 91 goals in a single calendar year.
From the very first game Messi seemed to be firing from all cylinders and the good form just never stopped. The Argentine scored 91 goals in a calendar year: 79 with Barça (59 in La Liga, 13 in the Champions League, 5 in the Copa del Rey and 2 in the Spanish Super Cup) plus 12 with the Argentina national side.
We lay in excitement as we wait for the 2021 season to be over and the winner to be revealed. With both of the top guys changing teams in the previous transfer window, this season is going to be an interesting one.
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