🏆 Ballon d'Or Men's Winners (1956-Present)

The Ballon d'Or (French for "Golden Ball") is an annual football award presented by the French magazine France Football to the male player who is considered to have performed the best over the previous season. First awarded in 1956, it is widely regarded as the most prestigious individual accolade in the world of football.

The criteria for the award are based on a player's individual performances, team achievements, and a player's overall class and fair play. The winner is selected by an international jury of journalists. Until 1994, the award was exclusively for European players. In 1995, it was expanded to include players of any nationality who played for a European club. Since 2007, it has been open to all professional male footballers worldwide.

From 2010 to 2015, the award was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award to become the "FIFA Ballon d'Or." The partnership ended in 2016, and the award reverted to its original name. Since 2022, the award has been based on the performance of the previous football season (typically August to July) rather than the calendar year. In 2024, UEFA became a co-organizer of the ceremony.

Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, Messi has set numerous records for individual accolades won throughout his professional footballing career, including eight Ballons d'Or, six European Golden Shoes, and eight times being named the world's best player by FIFA. In 2025, he was named the All Time Men's World Best Player by the IFFHS. He is the most decorated player in the history of professional football having won 45 team trophies. Messi's records include most goals in a calendar year (91), most goals for a single club (672 for Barcelona), most goals in La Liga (474), most goal contributions in the FIFA World Cup (21), and most goal contributions in the Copa América (32). A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi has scored over 880 senior career goals and provided over 390 assists for club and country—the most of any player—resulting in over 1,270 goal contributions, the highest total in the sport's history.

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