Ballon d'Or

The " _fr. Ballon d'Or" (French for "Golden Ball," often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award) is an association football award. Presented since 1956 by the French football magazine "France Football", it is awarded to the player considered to have performed best over the previous year; the inaugural winner was Blackpool player Stanley Matthews. The current holder of the award, as selected in 2007, is Milan's Kaka. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7123560.stm|title=Kaka named Europe's best player|accessdate=2008-08-11|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2007-12-02]

Prior to 2007, the player had to be a member of a club based within UEFA's jurisdiction in order to qualify for selection; and until 1995 a player also had to be of European nationality to be eligible. The 2007 change in rules saw players from Qatar, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina named on the shortlist alongside those from European clubs.cite web|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKL3037332520071130?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true|title=Kaka poised to win Ballon d'Or award|accessdate=2008-08-11|author=Patrick Vignal|publisher=Reuters|date=2007-11-30] cite web|url=http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/ballon_or/index_bo.html#reg|title=Reglement du « Ballon d’Or France Football »|accessdate=2008-08-11|publisher=France Football|language=French]

Since October 2007, 96 football journalists from around the world have decided the winner from a shortlist of 50 compiled by "France Football"; prior to this 52 European journalists chose a winner, who needed to play for a European club. [cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/AC-Milans-Kaka-awarded-2007-Ballon-dOr/2007/12/02/1196530485179.html|title=AC Milan's Kaka awarded 2007 Ballon d'Or|publisher=The Age|date=2007-12-02] Each voter chooses five players from the list of nominees, and awards them between one and five points. The winner is determined by the total number of points; players who finish second and third in the voting are awarded silver and bronze medals.

Winners

Awarded 52 times since 1956, there have been 41 different winners. Three players have managed to win the award three times, namely Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Michel Platini, while five players have won twice. Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer hold the record of receiving votes from the jury for the longest consecutive number of years (12 years). Ballon d'Or recipients are indicated in bold, as well as the clubs they played for in the season when they won the award.

* "Di Stefano and Sivori were Argentine players but they acquired Spanish and Italian citizenships respectively."

By club

Clubs are ranked according to the number of Ballon d'Or awards their players won while they were playing for the club. Clubs that Ballon d'Or winners played for during the first part of the year only are not included.

By country

Notes

ee also

*UEFA Club Footballer of the Year
*FIFA World Player of the Year
*European Golden Boot
*"Onze Mondial" European Footballer of the Year
*World Soccer Player of the Year

External links

* [http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/ballon_or/index_bo.html "France Football" magazine Ballon d'Or page]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy.html Records, yearly top fives, and other details at RSSSF.com]
* [http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/211007_BALLONDOR2007.html Ballon d'Or, France Football - 2007; 50 Stars En Piste]