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FIFA World Player of the Year (Men)

Here are the top FIFA World Player of the Year award winners since 1991. This award is given annually to the player who is thought to be the best in the world. From 2010 until 2015, this award was merged with the Ballon d'Or award.

Since 2004 the voting process is based on a shortlist of 35 players produced by FIFA, from which team captains, national team managers and select journalists vote for the winner.

From 2010 until 2015, the FIFA player of the year award was merged with the Ballon d'Or and called the FIFA Ballon d'Or. Compare this list to the player of the year according to World Soccer magazine, and also the female player of the year.

Including the FIFA Ballon d'Or (years 2010-2015), Lionel Messi has won the award six times, with Cristiano Ronaldo having won it five times.

Statue of Cristiano Ronaldo in the harbour of his hometown Funchal, Madeira

The 2016 and 2017 winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year winner was Cristiano Ronaldo, who also won the Ballon d'Or for the same periods. In 2018 he failed to win the hat-trick, polling second behind Croatian Luka Modrić.

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Related Pages

• See also the list of the female player of the year.
• list of winners of the Ballon d'Or award (from 1956 to 2009)
• more Soccer Lists
• more sporting lists

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Old Comments

Commenting is closed on this page, though you can read some previous comments below which may answer some of your questions.

• David W. Grualee • 6 years ago
  CR7 IS THE WORLD BEST PLAYER FOR THIS AWARD IN REAL LIFE,I ALSO LOVE MESSI BUT CR7 HAS DONE MORE THEN MESSI
  
• Julio Cee David W. Grualee • 9 months ago
  CR7 IS NOT THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD. SORRY YOU ARE DEAD WRONG. EVEN CR7 IS A MESSI FAN. AFTER TODAY's GOAL TO ATLETICO MADRID IS IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE NOT TO VOTE FOR MESSI. MESSI GETS IT DONE TIME AND TIME AGAIN.
  
• Lil billy Julio Cee • 7 months ago
  I'd like to see Messi play in a different country on a different team and see if he performs as he does on Barcelona
  
• Fuad Oluwaniyi David W. Grualee • a year ago
  What has he done, messi collected it 4 times consecutively. Soh mi. O je wa ke ball.
  
• Yush • 7 years ago
  This year it is going to be Ibrahimovich or Messi. Not Ronaldo, too much ego.
  
• NaughtyProf Yush • 7 years ago
  DEAD WRONG-LOL!!!
  
• kashlord NaughtyProf • 6 years ago
  he's correct its gonna be either ibrahimovic or messi
  
• RicardoSousa kashlord • 6 years ago
  Ronaldo won in the year you made that comment ( 2014 ) and the year i made this comment (2015). So haha
  
• Fraser // Turmoil RicardoSousa • 5 years ago
  Are you dumb? The 2015 Ballon d'Or was yesterday....
  
• Daniel Fraser // Turmoil • 5 years ago
  Haha you are the one who's dumb, all the comments were written 1 or 2 years ago, silly.
  
• ahmad fared Yush • 4 years ago
  Hhhhhhhhhh are you kidding man..
  Ronaldo is the best ..
  That sit
  
• Unkown Yush • 4 years ago
  Ronaldo has scored 44 goals this season and is the leading scorer in all competitions I highly doubt that.
  
• Bob Robinson Unkown • 3 years ago
  Yeah Ronaldo isn't any good
  
• Common sense Yush • 6 years ago
  Ego is not part of the criteria it is for the best PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOT PERSONALITY, FFS
  
• saif ur rehman • 6 years ago
  why they don't have separate awards for mid fielder defender goal keeper strikers why not they all provided with the proper stage to show their potential in there field and skill according to their category they should start something new fifa you should do something to motivate the others players and make the football more interesting when the rest of the players want to win there fifa player award they do great goal keeping defending mid fielding they will make football more faster then ever and enjoyable
  
• That One Guy saif ur rehman • 5 years ago
  You don't really need a separate section for the different positions in the best players award, Manuel Neuer, the german goalkeeper, came close to winning the ballon d'Or just recently, if the player is good enough, Fifa will recognize it and give them the award.
  
• Kalleruo.tarzel saif ur rehman • 6 years ago
  You where for sure a defender when you played football to have that statement...
  the hardest thing to do on a footballfield is to score a goal,and Strikers are valued more because of their abilities, thats why they are the most expensive players
  
• BJ Kalleruo.tarzel • 5 years ago
  No, the hardest thing to do is stop goals.
  
• That One Guy Kalleruo.tarzel • 5 years ago
  You are wrong, the hardest thing to do is to stop a shot. Keepers are under appreciated. they can stop soccer balls hurtling toward them through the air, they also act as the general of the team, organizing and commanding the players. without them or the defenders and midfielders, the strikers would even be able to get the ball to shoot. strikers might do some good stuff when they score, but 3/4 the time they miss and when they dont have the ball, they just walk around.
  
• James Thomas That One Guy • 5 years ago
  That's not correct - every person on earth specializes in some skill in a specific area or field & each person's pay is Directly proportional to the scarcity of their specialization... For example the reason Heart surgeons earn more than janitors is b/c heart surgeon is an extremely scarce skill set... The same rules apply to professional sports. Goaltenders are very important - obviously, but the reason the Very top of the pay scale is populated by offensive players is b/c their skill set is SO rare there are only a handful at the level of a Messi & a Ronaldo so they make the most $$$ Goaltenders are rare in the population but inside the game their skill set is no where near as rare as a top striker or mid fielder....
  
• Shared • 7 years ago
  Ronaldo is the greatest out of all them the Brazilian of course
• kashlord Shared • 6 years ago
  you got it all wrong
• twijukye • 7 years ago
  messi nooo they just cheat 4 him
  
• Kian • 6 years ago
  My favorite player is Messi and I like ibrahamovic but I gotta say Christiano Ranaldo even though I hate him. Ugh!
  
• freddy dymik lingomo • 6 years ago
  why i don't see ibrahimovic and samy etoo
  
• Shane Warne • 7 years ago
  I think Ibrahimovic deserves it this year.
  
• Ngala Maimo • 7 years ago
  this year we have ibrahimovic
  
• Sabbir Ahmed Abir • 7 years ago
  Messi is the best of all football players.
  
• skapie • 7 years ago
  King Messi the record breaker
  
• adino skapie • 5 years ago
  point of correction pele is the king
  
• Fahad Sam • 6 years ago
  ths year again cr7 .. (ballon d'or )
• tahseen • 7 years ago
  messi is the best :*
• Joseph Azar • 4 years ago
  There is a mistake Andrei Shevchenko was the winner in 2004
  
• kashlord • 6 years ago
  messi is the best of all time and will always be the best even after he retires
  
• opli • 7 years ago
  this is rediculous
• Messy will have 10 inthe end of his career
  
• adino opli • 5 years ago
  Let messi prove it self like ronaldo as a big play any were goes he can get BALLON D'OR /england to spain
• alex oppong • 7 years ago
  i like messi
  
• Paloma alex oppong • 7 years ago
  Messi will still Win, because he is the best
• Julio Cee • 9 months ago
  Messi is the best player in history. He will continue to break records and amaze fans.
• MESSI IS THE BEST PLAYER IN HISTORY. PERIOD.
  
• Jamiu Abolore • a year ago
  LM10 IS THE WORLD BEST PLAYER EVER HAVE SEEN IN MY LIFE, I ALSO LOVE CR7 BUT MESSI HAS DONE MORE THAN RONALDO
• FOR MORE FOOTBALL NEWS KINDLY VISIT THIS SITE
  <https: www.remisport.com="">
  
• Ashutosh Ople • a year ago
  Messi just won it 6th time, now leads Cristiano Ronaldo.. LOL Till the last moment of announcement i thought van dijk would win it..
  
• invisible_bot • 2 years ago
  soccer so white and so fixed. last 10 best players consist of 2 white players! rigged
  
• Noe Avila • 3 years ago
  MESSI ALL THE YEARS
  
• Md Anas • 3 years ago
  FIFA is just cheating!!Ronaldo did a lot for his teams i.e. real madrid and portugal and got the ballon d'or for it.But this year he didnt do anything good but yet he got the FIFA best player award!!Previous year messi did some good things for his teams but not as good as Ronaldo so he didnt win the ballon d'or but this year he is playing damn good !! His hattrick against ecuador a few days back led argentina to qualify for the Russian world cup next year.And he has scored most goals this season but yet he didnt get the Fifa best player award!!.So,there is no doubt that stupid FIFA is just cheating the LEO fans!!
  
• Ivor Marillier • 3 years ago
  Wow. Messi should've won way more than he did am i right?
  
• Евгений Нескажу • 4 years ago
  2004 is not Ronaldinho. Shevchenko has won Golden Balloon in 2004.
  
• Rod • 4 years ago
  Do you know you must actually win something to be consider a contender, Barcelona & Man utd will win nothing , Ronaldo again!
  
• David Siame Katambalile • 4 years ago
  The method used to pick world footballer is biased towards certain players. Small wonder we have no goalkeeper's as world best the selection process seems to exclude them. Using this method we will never have a goalkeeper win world player. I am urging FIFA to relook the criteria the use we can't have two players as the best for a decade. Categories the awards than have one. Maybe then pick from the categories the best of all.
  
• Peter P Ramofolo • 4 years ago
  CR7 will certainly get his forth award
  
• Ajinkya Khalwadekar • 4 years ago
  this list is terrible!!! lot of errors!!!
  
• Unkown • 4 years ago
  ? 2005 winner was Pavel Nedvěd
  
• Velocity Unkown • 4 years ago
  No 2005 was Ronaldinho
  
• Inthasone Khounborine • 4 years ago
  as you can see previous winners besides messi and cr7 are winning because they perform in big tournament either or their country winning big tournament. so since Portugal won the 2016 Euro tournament i believe CR7 will win FIFA football player of the year.....
  
• Marius • 4 years ago
  In 2003, Paul Nedved won Ballon D'or.
  
• Velocity Marius • 4 years ago
  Yes Ballon D'or was different from fifa player of the year until it emerged in 2010. now it has been separated. lots of players won Ballon d'or but didn't win the fifa player of the year awards
  
• sd • 4 years ago
  CR is The best Player
  
• pablo • 4 years ago
  still CR7 for real
  
• Rich Incognito • 4 years ago
  Zidane? it should be Nedved for 2003
  
• amrik • 4 years ago
  messi or suarez or neymar will win
  
• James Soria • 5 years ago
  I cant believe maradonna never won the ballon d' or
  
• James Soria • 5 years ago
  Luis suarez should win this year he has most goals and most participations
  in goals and has a lot of success in world cups hes good.
  
• sd James Soria • 4 years ago
  Uruguay our from Copa No way for Luis suarez only CR
  
• Darragh • 5 years ago
  Did Michael Owen not win the ballon d'or in 2001 not luis Figo
  
• mark • 5 years ago
  1994 winner is wrong. It was Hristo Stoichkov who won that year.
  
• kamor • 5 years ago
  u are all wrong...the best ever is RONALDINHO✌
  
• Miro • 5 years ago
  1994 - Stoichkov
  
• Rob Admin Miro • 5 years ago
  Yes, Stoichkov won the Ballon d'Or European Footballer of the Year. That is a different award http://www.topendsports.com...
  
• Aru10 • 5 years ago
  nedved won in 2003, not zidane ..
  
• Ainebye Benjamin • 5 years ago
  Its C. Ronaldo
  
• Tilak • 5 years ago
  you have listed Zinedine Zidane 3 times (1998,2000,2003) whereas zizou received Ballon d'Or only once in 1998...
• same goes for Ronaldinho he won Ballon d'Or in year 2005 and you have listed 2004 and 2005...
• although they are the legendary players but you cannot mess up with the Ballon d'Or title..
  
• Rob Admin Tilak • 5 years ago
  Many visitors are getting confused as this award is often confused with the now defunct Ballon d'Or (European Footballer of the year) which was awarded from 1956 until 2009, which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or (this list).
  
• tapiwa • 5 years ago
  this list is wrong. Ronaldinho only won it in 05 shevshenko won it in 04, owen won it in 2001
  
• Velocity tapiwa • 4 years ago
  Shevshenko never won the fifa world player of the year. he only won the ballon d'or which was a different award until it merged with fifa best player of the year in 2010
  
• Lcb • 5 years ago
  It's a shame 1990 not there. ..gazza name would be there. ....
  
• Nishan Nishan • 5 years ago
  neymar or messi
  
• Patkata • 5 years ago
  1994 is Hristo Stoitchkov, not Romario
  
• Rob Admin Patkata • 5 years ago
  Stoitchkov won the Ballon d'Or in 1994, not this award. See http://www.topendsports.com...
  
• Liu • 5 years ago
  2004 - Shevchenko not Ronaldinho
  
• tapiwa Liu • 5 years ago
  was wondering if i was the only one who noticed
  
• Rob Admin Liu • 5 years ago
  Shevchenko won the Ballon d'Or in 2004, not this award. See http://www.topendsports.com...
  
• Daniel Abraham • 5 years ago
  Messi is the KING in football.this yr best player gos to MESSI ,if messi win this yr ,he is the 5 star best player of the yr.JAH BLESS U MESSI AND TO THOES WHO SUPPORT MESSI
  
• andrew • 5 years ago
  Ronaldo again
  
• Yajan • 5 years ago
  Cristiano Ronaldo the best player in planet
  
• Jadhaan whittaker • 5 years ago
  This year messi will win his fifth Ballon'Or 2015
  
• Andriy Shevchenko • 5 years ago
  where is SHEVA? 2004
  
• Rob Admin Andriy Shevchenko • 5 years ago
  Andriy Shevchenko won the 2004 Ballon d'Or, which was just for European players at the time. It is different from the FIFA list above, which combined with the Ballon d'Or in 2010. See the Ballon d'Or list http://www.topendsports.com...
  
• Velocity Rob • 4 years ago
  No it was not only for euopean players in 2004. check your facts mate
  
• Rob Admin Velocity • 4 years ago
  From 1995 to 2007, the Ballon d'Or (not the FIFA award list here) was only for players at European clubs. They did not have to be born in Europe, just had to be playing there.
  
• vegis • 5 years ago
  in 2001 michael owen was the winner
  
• Rob Admin vegis • 5 years ago
  Michael Owen won the World Soccer Player of the Year in 2001, which is a different award.
  http://www.topendsports.com...
  
• adino • 5 years ago
  c-ronaldo has 10 goals & 10 goals messi in champions legue why ronaldo exceed messi in la liga goals ,SO RONALDO STILL HAS THE NEXT WORLD BEST
  
• Chahat Sharma • 5 years ago
  Messi god of fifa . Top scorer in uefa all over the time top scorer in this year again .
  4 Ballon D'Or .
  la liga champion
  copa del rey champion
  one left uefa champion
  
• Mark music • 5 years ago
  In one word just Harry Kane
  
• S Kgomo • 5 years ago
  Paul Pogba in the cooking... Watch the space. But so far, KING LIONEL MESSI.
  
• Okyere Boateng • 5 years ago
  Zinedine Zidane is my all time best player
  
• Bernard Koffi • 6 years ago
  Messi is the Greatest but Ronaldo will win the Award Again
  
• wrong • 6 years ago
  2001 was Michael Owen..... you got it wrong very wrong
  
• Rob Admin wrong • 6 years ago
  The list is for the FIFA World Player of the Year, which was won by Luís Figo in 2001. Michael Owen won the Bllon d'Or in 2001. The two awards were merged in 2010.
  
• Emmanuel Sefoley • 6 years ago
  no matter what happen Messi is going to emerge as FIFA player of the year..
  
• Spotlobster • 6 years ago
  verify yo data, ain't correct
  
• Rob Admin Spotlobster • 6 years ago
  what's incorrect?
  
• That One Guy Rob • 5 years ago
  The list is for the two awards combined, read the top.
  
• VINOD • 6 years ago
  this year will be the argentina man messi 4 ever.!!!!!!cr7 booo
  
• Omoda James • 7 years ago
  this year will be for Ribery if he make France qualify for world cup.
  
• Ricky • 7 years ago
  This is year goes to Razvan Cocis from Romania !
  
• Nazri Buang • 7 years ago
  Awesome Gain City. Thanks for the list.
  
• tuffour • 7 years ago
  Messi no size ego take
  the world best again
  
• labeeb tuffour • 6 years ago
  zidane zidane zidane
  
• Dani Flores • 5 years ago
  There no doubt that messi will win the ballon de oro because he won barcelona 3 titles in 2015.
• Johann Mathews George Dani Flores • 5 years ago
  Messi is better than Ronaldo because Messi won the Ballon d'or 4 times in a row.
  
• Swagg Johann Mathews George • 4 years ago
  messi is the best in the way e play show you is not a griding man and look at the world cup he went to final and he is the best performer in the last world cup and come to cup america is also the best perfomer ther is no body to suport him that is why he wanna get retired from the country side in my own look . fifa world cup and euro cup and cup america messi perform more than ronaldo then in my own look messi deserve the next ballon d `or