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1963 Ballon d'Or Results

The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best player from the previous year. Up until 1995 it was awarded only to football players from Europe and was generally known as the European Footballer of the Year award.

Below are the nominees in the final order after voting for the 1963 award. The winner was Soviet player Lev Yashin, nicknamed the  "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther". Yashin was the first (and so far only) goalkeeper to win this award. The Yashin Trophy, named in his honor, is an annual football award for the world's best male goalkeeper. Yashin was the first Soviet player to win the award.

As only European players were eligible for the Ballon d'Or at this time, there may have been players outside of Europe deserving of the best player of the year award. To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, the results were reevaluated, and it was determined that in 1963 Pelé would have won if he was eligible.

See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.

Final order for the men's 1963 Ballon d'Or

Order Player Club Nationality Points
1 Lev Yashin Dynamo Moscow Soviet Union 73
2 Gianni Rivera Milan Italy 55
3 Jimmy Greaves Tottenham Hotspur England 50
4 Denis Law Manchester United Scotland 45
5 Eusébio Benfica Portugal 19
6 Karl-Heinz Schnellinger 1. FC Köln / Mantova West Germany 16
7 Uwe Seeler Hamburger SV West Germany 9
8 Bobby Charlton Manchester United England 5
  Luis Suárez Inter Milan Spain 5
  Giovanni Trapattoni Milan Italy 5
11 José Altafini Milan Brazil 4
  Paul Van Himst Anderlecht Belgium 4
13 Flórián Albert Ferencváros Hungary 3
  Harry Bild IFK Norrköping Sweden 3
  Josef Masopust Dukla Prague Czechoslovakia 3
  Omar Sívori Juventus Argentina 3
17 Robert Herbin Saint-Étienne France 2
  Jef Jurion Anderlecht Belgium 2
  Cesare Maldini Milan Italy 2
  Károly Sándor MTK Budapest Hungary 2
21 Mário Coluna Benfica Portugal 1
  Ake Johansson IFK Norrköping Sweden 1
  Manfred Kaiser Wismut Aue East Germany 1
  Metin Oktay Galatasaray Turkey 1
  Svatopluk Pluskal Dukla Prague Czechoslovakia 1


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