This article is about the FIFA award issued between 2010 and 2015. For the original and 2016—present award, seeBallon d'Or. For the previous FIFA award (1991–2009), seeFIFA World Player of the Year. For the current FIFA award (since 2016), seeThe Best FIFA Men's Player.
TheFIFA Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") was an annualassociation football award presented to the world's best men's player from 2010 to 2015. Awarded jointly byFIFA andFrance Football, the prize was a merger of theFIFA World Player of the Year award and theBallon d'Or, the two most prestigious individual honours in world football. Unlike the Ballon d'Or awarded byFrance Football, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, was not awarded solely based on votes from international journalists, but votes from national team coaches and captains also, who selected the players they deemed to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.
Messi, who played forBarcelona, won the inaugural Ballon d'Or in 2010 and went on to win three in a row, after his wins in 2011 and 2012. Ronaldo, who played forReal Madrid, won successive awards in the next two years. The final FIFA Ballon d'Or was presented to Messi in 2015. Its awarding bodies subsequently ended their partnership; for 2016,France Football reintroduced the previous format of the Ballon d'Or, while FIFA createdThe Best FIFA Men's Player award.
History
FIFA PresidentSepp Blatter holds up the agreement creating the FIFA Ballon d'Or inJohannesburg in July 2010.
Historically, the leading individual awards in association football were theBallon d'Or and theFIFA World Player of the Year award.[1][2] The original Ballon d'Or, also known as the European Footballer of the Year award, had been awarded by the French publicationFrance Football since 1956. The FIFA World Player of the Year award was presented byFIFA, the sport's governing body, from 1991.[3]
From 2005, the winners of the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award were identical each year. Following the introduction of a global Ballon d'Or format in 2007,France Football and FIFA opted to merge the two awards. The creation of the FIFA Ballon d'Or was subsequently announced during the2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[3] The inaugural award was presented that same year to the ArgentineLionel Messi.[4]
After a six-year partnership,France Football and FIFA terminated the joint award. Lionel Messi had received the final FIFA Ballon d'Or.[5] For historical purposes, both awarding bodies regard the six editions of the FIFA Ballon d'Or as a continuation of their respective awards.[6][7]
Voting
The winners of the FIFA Ballon d'Or were chosen by international journalists and the coaches and captains of the national teams under FIFA's jurisdiction.[3] In a system based onpositional voting, each voter was allotted three votes, worth five points, three points and one point, and the three finalists were ordered based on total number of points. Voters were provided with a shortlist of 23 players from which they could select the three players they deemed to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.[8]
In 2013, Brazilian forwardPelé was given an honorary Ballon d'Or, having won threeFIFA World Cups withBrazil but never an individual award from FIFA, as during his playing career only Europe-based players were eligible to win the originalBallon d'Or.[11]
^FIFA andFrance Football credit Messi, the recipient of the2009 Ballon d'Or andFIFA World Player of the Year award, with six Ballons d'Or in total (2009–12, 2015, 2019).[6][7] Messi additionally placed as a finalist for both awards in 2007 and 2008.[9][10]
^FIFA andFrance Football credit Ronaldo, the recipient of the2008 Ballon d'Or andFIFA World Player of the Year award, with five Ballons d'Or in total (2008, 2013–14, 2016–17).[6][7] Ronaldo additionally placed as a finalist for both awards in 2007 and 2009.[9][10]
Lionel Messi
Barcelona
Cristiano Ronaldo
Franck Ribéry
Bayern Munich
Neymar
