1981 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 1981 award. The winner was Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.
Final order for the men's 1981 Ballon d'Or
| Order | Player | Club | Nationality | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich | West Germany | 106 |
| 2 | Paul Breitner | Bayern Munich | West Germany | 64 |
| 3 | Bernd Schuster | Barcelona | West Germany | 39 |
| 4 | Michel Platini | Saint-Étienne | France | 36 |
| 5 | Oleg Blokhin | Dinamo Kyiv | Soviet Union | 14 |
| 6 | Dino Zoff | Juventus | Italy | 13 |
| 7 | Ramaz Shengelia | Dinamo Tbilisi | Soviet Union | 10 |
| 8 | Alexsandr Chivadze | Dinamo Tbilisi | Soviet Union | 9 |
| 9 | Liam Brady | Juventus | Republic of Ireland | 7 |
| John Wark | Ipswich Town | Scotland | 7 | |
| 11 | David Kipiani | Dinamo Tbilisi | Soviet Union | 6 |
| András Törőcsik | Újpest | Hungary | 6 | |
| Zbigniew Boniek | Widzew Łódź | Poland | 6 | |
| Maxime Bossis | Nantes | France | 6 | |
| Bruno Pezzey | Eintracht Frankfurt | Austria | 6 | |
| 16 | Horst Hrubesch | Hamburger SV | West Germany | 5 |
| Ruud Krol | Napoli | Netherlands | 5 | |
| Vladimir Petrović | Red Star Belgrade | Yugoslavia | 5 | |
| 19 | Zlatko Vujovic | Hajduk Split | Yugoslavia | 4 |
| Trevor Brooking | West Ham United | England | 4 | |
| 21 | Giancarlo Antognoni | Fiorentina | Italy | 3 |
| Jan Ceulemans | Club Brugge | Belgium | 3 | |
| Kenny Dalglish | Liverpool | Scotland | 3 | |
| Bryan Robson | Manchester United | England | 3 | |
| Frank Stapleton | Manchester United | Ireland | 3 | |
| Wilfried Van Moer | Beveren | Belgium | 3 | |
| Luis Arconada | Real Sociedad | Spain | 3 | |
| 28 | Grzegorz Lato | Lokeren | Poland | 2 |
| Tibor Nyilasi | Ferencváros | Hungary | 2 | |
| Wlodzimierz Smolarek | Widzew Łódź | Poland | 2 | |
| Frans Thijssen | Ipswich Town | Netherlands | 2 | |
| 32 | António Oliveira | Sporting CP | Portugal | 1 |
| Uli Stielike | Real Madrid | West Germany | 1 | |
| Jesús Zamora | Real Sociedad | Spain | 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: 1981
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