Ballon d'Or Trivia

The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best player over the previous year.

Men's Award

The men's Ballon d'Or award was first awarded in 1956, won by English player Stanley Matthews.
"Ballon d'Or" is French for "Golden Ball".
George Weah from Liberia was the first non-European and first African national team player to win the award in 1995.
Brazilian Ronaldo became the first South American winner in 1997.
Due to the disruption to world sport in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was no award given in 2020.
Lionel Messi has won the men's Ballon d'Or award a record seven times, his last in 2021 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021). The next best is Cristiano Ronaldo who has won the award five times. Beween them, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo won 12 of the 13 Ballon d’Ors between 2008 and 2021.

the Ballon d'Or trophy being held aloft

In 2018, the first women's Ballon d'Or award was presented (called the Ballon d'Or Féminin), won by Ada Hegerberg of Norway.
Four players have been nominated for the Ballon d'Or in every edition since its inception in 2018 (including 2022), a list which includes Australian Sam Kerr.

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