Ballon d'Or: Winners, Records & the 2026 Race

For almost two decades it had two possible winners. Now the Ballon d'Or has none, making the prestigious but contentious prize difficult to predict. Rodri in 2024, Ousmane Dembele in 2025 and a similarly tight 2026 vote should be watched from London on 26 October — the 70th anniversary of the award, and the first time it has been presented outside Paris.

The 2025 Ballon d'Or: Ousmane Dembele's Year

The Frenchman, on the back of a Champions League-winning campaign with PSG, beat Barcelona's teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal (second) and his Paris teammate Vitinha (third) to claim the Men's Ballon d'Or at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 22 September. The top ten included five Parisian players, including Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Nuno Mendes. It was a remarkable comeback for the 28-year-old, whose early years at Barcelona were wrecked by injuries and who was widely written off before his Paris revival.

Ballon d'Or Winners: Last Few Years

Three consecutive first-time winners since Messi's final win in 2023 — the most open voting since the 2000s.

Who Has Won the Most Ballons d'Or?

Lionel Messi, and by quite some distance: eight in total, spread across fifteen years from 2009 to 2023. Second belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo, with five between 2008 and 2017, while Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten take third with three each. As for the "Super Ballon d'Or" people search for — that was a one-off prize from France Football in 1989, given to the best of all previous winners, Alfredo di Stéfano. It has not been presented since, despite the internet's almost annual insistence that it is now Lionel Messi's turn.

The 2026 Ballon d'Or: London, 26 October

The 2026 edition will be held in London — a first for the event — on 26 October and, as ever, the race to the podium should be followed with interest. In particular, the vote in the wake of the World Cup in North America (see our guide to FIFA WC winners for reference) will be fascinating — the tournament is always a deciding factor for the Ballon d'Or in the year it is played. The shortlist is likely to be announced in early September, with this page updated on the candidates, the likely winner, and what happens on the night in London.

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