List of Ballon d'Or winners

List of Ballon d'Or winners since the award's inception in 1956 after Cristiano Ronaldo was named 2016 winner on Monday: 1956 - Stanley Matthews (England) 1957 - Alfredo Di Stefano (Spain) 1958 - Raymond Kopa (France) 1959 - Alfredo di Stefano (Spain) 1960 - Luis Suarez (Spain) 1961 - Omar Sivori (Italy) 1962 - Josef Masopust (Czechoslovakia) 1963 - Lev Yashin (Soviet Union) 1964 - Denis Law (Scotland) 1965 - Eusebio (Portugal) 1966 - Bobby Charlton (England) 1967 - Florian Albert (Hungary) 1968 - George Best (Northern Ireland) 1969 - Gianni Rivera (Italy) 1970 - Gerd Mueller (West Germany) 1971 - Johan Cruyff (Netherlands) 1972 - Franz Beckenbauer (Germany) 1973 - Johan Cruyff (Netherlands) 1974 - Johan Cruyff (Netherlands) 1975 - Oleg Blokhin (Soviet Union) 1976 - Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany) 1977 - Allan Simonsen (Denmark) 1978 - Kevin Keegan (England 1979 - Kevin Keegan (England) 1980 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany) 1981 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany) 1982 - Paolo Rossi (Italy) 1983 - Michel Platini (France) 1984 - Michel Platini (France) 1985 - Michel Platini (France) 1986 - Igor Belanov (Soviet Union) 1987 - Ruud Gullit (Netherlands) 1988 - Marco van Basten (Netherlands) 1989 - Marco van Basten (Netherlands) 1990 - Lothar Matthaeus (Germany) 1991 - Jean-Pierre Papin (France) 1992 - Marco van Basten (Netherlands) 1993 - Roberto Baggio (Italy) 1994 - Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) 1995 - George Weah (Liberia) 1996 - Matthias Sammer (Germany) 1997 - Ronaldo (Brazil) 1998 - Zinedine Zidane (France) 1999 - Rivaldo (Brazil) 2000 - Luis Figo (Portugal) 2001 - Michael Owen (England) 2002 - Ronaldo (Brazil) 2003 - Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic) 2004 - Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine) 2005 - Ronaldinho (Brazil) 2006 - Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) 2007 - Kaka (Brazil) 2008 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 2009 - Lionel Messi (Argentina) 2010 - Lionel Messi (Argentina) * 2011 - Lionel Messi (Argentina) * 2012 - Lionel Messi (Argentina) * 2013 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) * 2014 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) * 2015 - Lionel Messi (Argentina) * 2016 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) * From 2010-2015 the Ballon d'Or was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or award.