2026 Ballon d'Or: Date, history, previous winners & more

After Ousmane Dembele won his first Ballon d'Or award in 2025, attention has now turned to who will win the prize in 2026.

While great debate raged as to who should triumph, Paris Saint-Germain's Dembele was crowned the best player in the world, after inspiring Luis Enrique's side to the Treble with their maiden success in the UEFA Champions League.

In another compelling year of football at the elite level, the competition to be named the best player in the world looking as fierce as ever.

Ballon d'Or date

The 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony is scheduled to take place on Monday 26th October 2026, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France.

Ballon d'Or history

Conceived by French sportswriter Gabriel Hanot, the Ballon d'Or was first awarded in 1956 to Blackpool and England star Stanley Matthews, who pipped Real Madrid duo Alfredo Di Stefano and Raymond Kopa to the prize.

Initially seen as an award for just European players, the criteria was extended to include players from all over the world playing in Europe in 1995, with George Weah becoming the first player from outside the continent to pick up the trophy that same year.

The award then became a truly global prize in 2007, with all professional footballers from around the world being considered eligible.

Argentina star Messi has won the Ballon d'Or on a record eight occasions, three more than old adversary Cristiano Ronaldo, while Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff are the only other players to have received the accolade more than twice.

Karim Benzema's success in 2022 meant France joined Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Argentina as the most decorated nations in the trophy's history, with players from those countries having won it seven times, while along with Italy and Germany, France also boast the most individual winners of the Ballon d'Or with 5.

The Ballon d'Or Feminin, or as it is more commonly known the Women's Ballon d'Or, was established in 2018, with Ada Hegerberg having claimed the inaugural prize.

Previous Ballon d'Or winners

Year:	Player:	Team:	Points:
1956	Stanley Matthews	Blackpool	47
1957	Alfredo Di Stéfano	Real Madrid	72
1958	Raymond Kopa	Real Madrid	71
1959	Alfredo Di Stéfano	Real Madrid	80
1960	Luis Suárez	Barcelona	54
1961	Omar Sívori	Juventus	46
1962	Josef Masopust	Dukla Prague	65
1963	Lev Yashin	Dynamo Moscow	73
1964	Denis Law	Manchester United	61
1965	Eusébio	Benfica	67
1966	Bobby Charlton	Manchester United	81
1967	Flórián Albert	Ferencváros	68
1968	George Best	Manchester United	61
1969	Gianni Rivera	Milan	83
1970	Gerd Müller	Bayern Munich	77
1971	Johan Cruyff	Ajax	116
1972	Franz Beckenbauer	Bayern Munich	81
1973	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	96
1974	Johan Cruyff	Barcelona	116
1975	Oleg Blokhin	Dynamo Kyiv	122
1976	Franz Beckenbauer	Bayern Munich	91
1977	Allan Simonsen	Borussia Mönchengladbach	74
1978	Kevin Keegan	Hamburger SV	87
1979	Kevin Keegan	Hamburger SV	118
1980	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	Bayern Munich	122
1981	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	Bayern Munich	106
1982	Paolo Rossi	Juventus	115
1983	Michel Platini	Juventus	110
1984	Michel Platini	Juventus	110
1985	Michel Platini	Juventus	127
1986	Igor Belanov	Dynamo Kyiv	84
1987	Ruud Gullit	Milan	106
1988	Marco van Basten	Milan	129
1989	Marco van Basten	Milan	129
1990	Lothar Matthäus	Inter Milan	137
1991	Jean-Pierre Papin	Marseille	141
1992	Marco van Basten	Milan	98
1993	Roberto Baggio	Juventus	142
1994	Hristo Stoichkov	Barcelona	210
1995	George Weah	Milan	144
1996	Matthias Sammer	Borussia Dortmund	144
1997	Ronaldo	Inter Milan	222
1998	Zinedine Zidane	Juventus	244
1999	Rivaldo	Barcelona	219
2000	Luís Figo	Real Madrid	197
2001	Michael Owen	Liverpool	176
2002	Ronaldo	Real Madrid	169
2003	Pavel Nedvěd	Juventus	190
2004	Andriy Shevchenko	Milan	175
2005	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	225
2006	Fabio Cannavaro	Real Madrid	173
2007	Kaká	Milan	444
2008	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	446
2009	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	473
2010	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	22.65%
2011	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	47.88%
2012	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	41.60%
2013	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	27.99%
2014	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	37.66%
2015	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	41.33%
2016	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	745
2017	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	946
2018	Luka Modrić	Real Madrid	753
2019	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	686
2021	Lionel Messi	Paris Saint-Germain	613
2022	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	549
2023	Lionel Messi	PSG/Inter Miami	462
2024	Rodri	Manchester City	1,170
2025	Ousmane Dembele	Paris Saint-Germain	1,380

Kopa Trophy

The Kopa Trophy - awarded to the best player in the world under the age of 21 - was first handed out at the 2018 Ballon d'Or ceremony, with Frenchman Kylian Mbappe receiving the prize.

Since then, Matthijs De Ligt, Pedri, Gavi and Jude Bellingham have all won the Kopa Trophy, before Lamine Yamal became the first player to receive the award back-to-back at the 2024 and 2025 Ballon d'Or awards.

Yashin Trophy

The Yashin Trophy recognises the best goalkeeper of the year at the Ballon d'Or awards, with Brazilian Alisson Becker the first winner in 2019.

Emiliano Martínez claimed the trophy for the first time in 2023, before winning his second consecutive honour in 2024.

2025 was the turn of Gianluigi Donnarumma after his starring role in Paris Saint-Germain's Treble.