1978 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 1978 award. The winner was Kevin Keegan.
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 1978 Mario Kempes would have won if he was eligible.
See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.
Final order for the men's 1978 Ballon d'Or
| Order | Player | Club | Nationality | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Keegan | Hamburger SV | England | 87 |
| 2 | Hans Krankl | Barcelona | Austria | 81 |
| 3 | Rob Rensenbrink | Anderlecht | Netherlands | 50 |
| 4 | Roberto Bettega | Juventus | Italy | 28 |
| 5 | Paolo Rossi | L.R. Vicenza | Italy | 23 |
| 6 | Ronnie Hellström | Kaiserslautern | Sweden | 20 |
| Ruud Krol | Ajax | Netherlands | 20 | |
| 8 | Kenny Dalglish | Liverpool | Scotland | 10 |
| Allan Simonsen | Borussia Mönchengladbach | Denmark | 10 | |
| 10 | Peter Shilton | Nottingham Forest | England | 9 |
| 11 | Arie Haan | Anderlecht | Netherlands | 7 |
| 12 | René van de Kerkhof | PSV Eindhoven | Netherlands | 6 |
| 13 | Antonio Cabrini | Juventus | Italy | 5 |
| Willy van de Kerkhof | PSV Eindhoven | Netherlands | 5 | |
| 15 | Johan Cruyff | Barcelona | Netherlands | 4 |
| Graeme Souness | Liverpool | Scotland | 4 | |
| Zdeněk Nehoda | Dukla Prague | Czechoslovakia | 4 | |
| 18 | Marián Masný | Slovan Bratislava | Czechoslovakia | 3 |
| 19 | Archie Gemmill | Nottingham Forest | Scotland | 2 |
| Marius Trésor | Marseille | France | 2 | |
| 21 | João Alves | Benfica | Portugal | 1 |
| Rainer Bonhof | Valencia | West Germany | 1 | |
| Zbigniew Boniek | Widzew Łódź | Poland | 1 | |
| Franco Causio | Juventus | Italy | 1 | |
| Hansi Müller | VfB Stuttgart | West Germany | 1 | |
| Johan Neeskens | Barcelona | Netherlands | 1 | |
| Michel Platini | Nancy | France | 1 | |
| Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | West Germany | 1 | |
| Didier Six | Marseille | France | 1 | |
| François Van Der Elst | Anderlecht | Belgium | 1 |
Related Pages
- Ballon d'Or Home
- Men's Ballon d'Or Winner's List
- Football Awards Lists
- List of the FIFA male player of the year and FIFA female player of the year.
- History of the Ballon d'Or
- The Year in Sport: 1978
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