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RANKING every Ballon d'Or winner this century
Analysis
The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award in football.
This century there have been 25 winners of the Ballon d'Or (sorry Lewandowski!) and they run from great to GOAT. Every winner has an immense amount of talent and showcased that tremendously in the year they won.
But who is the best Ballon d'Or winner? We've ranked them from worst to best, taking into account sheer footballing quality, individual and team trophies won, and of course the narrative impact of their victory. Who ranks where? Let's get into it!
Current ETV
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
ETV Range
€9.4M - €11.5M
25. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2013
The 2013 Ballon d'Or is the biggest farce in the history of the award (well, along with the 2020 award just being outright cancelled for bizarre reasons that made no sense and denied and incredible striker his justified coronation as world's best... sorry Lewandowski).
It was heading to Treble-winning demon Franck Ribery but due to Cristiano Ronaldo whining about a joke from FIFA President Sepp Blatter, pressure from his legions of fans forced Blatter to re-open the voting period, during a time where only Cristiano was playing a significant game.
Cristiano bagged an admittedly impressive hat-trick against Sweden and enough voters changed their decision, allowing him to steal Ribery's award.
A genuine disgrace.
24. Michael Owen, 2001
Michael Owen was indeed a phenomenal young striker before his hamstrings went and his huge role in Liverpool's cup treble of FA, UEFA and EFL was impressive as was his hat-trick in England's famous 5-1 win over Germany... but he wasn't better than Raul or especially the monstrous Champions League winning Oliver Kahn!
23. Luis Figo, 2000
Figo was not as good as Zinedine Zidane in the year 2000. He was second-best to the Frenchman at Euro 2000 (both in terms of performance and results) and failed to guide Barcelona to the Champions League, which Real Madrid won.
However as he then joined Real Madrid, he managed to get the shine from both his individual performances as well as Madrid's Champions League win. A very bizarre award.
22. Andriy Shevchenko, 2004
Thierry Henry went unbeaten in the Premier League with Arsenal, Deco guided Porto to an incredible Champions League win, Andriy Shevchenko guided AC Milan to win Serie A. All impressive achievements, but Shevchenko's is undeniably the least impressive and given how close they all were as footballers... this feets a bit off.
21. Lionel Messi, 2010
Lionel Messi is the GOAT, the greatest of all-time, but he shouldn't have won the 2010 Ballon d'Or. Sure, he was still the best player in the world by some distance, but the scale of Xavi and Iniesta's achievements and performances winning the 2010 World Cup, or Wesley Sneijder and especially Diego Milito's performances winning Inter a Treble (Inter scored 4 goals across their last 3 games of the season to secure all 3 trophies and each one of those goals was scored by Milito) should have put one of that quartet over Messi.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
20. Pavel Nedved, 2003
It's hard to really explain how good Pavel Nedved was in 2003 except to say that his Juventus beat the best version of the Galacticos (with three Ballon d'Or winners) in the Champions League semi-final and then turned in one of the most anaemic displays ever seen in a Champions League final and the only difference between those two line-ups was that Pavel Nedved was suspended for the final.
19. Ousmane Dembele, 2025
Was Ousmane Dembele better than Lamine Yamal? Probably not. Did he win the Treble with PSG after overcoming years of agonising injuries that wrecked his confidence and career, being their top scorer on the way? Absolutely he did.
Dembele hunched over, ready to press the Inter defenders the second the ball goes to win, is the defining image of the 2025 Champions League final. Fair play to the lad, hell of a comeback.
STATS
Ousmane Dembélé
F (CR)
PSG
Ousmane Dembélé
F (CR)
PSG
18. Lionel Messi, 2021
Speaking of redemptions, after three straight defeats in major international finals, it looked like Lionel Messi would never win anything with Argentina. Then came the 2021 Copa America. The sight of him dropping to his knees in tears as the whole team rushed to embrace him, having won it seemingly for him as much as themselves... that was stronger than any footballing excellence (sorry Lewandowski!)
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
17. Rodri, 2024
Unfortunately for Vini Jr., Rodri was on a heater. Two straight years of being the best defensive midfielder the world had seen since peak Sergio Busquets, Rodri was an all-conquering dynamo. The residual glow from scoring the winner in the 2023 Champions League final was all over Rodri when he was player of the tournament as Spain won Euro 2024. What a magical footballer.
Current ETV
Rodri
DM, M (C)
Man City
Rodri
DM, M (C)
Man City
ETV Range
€82.7M - €101.1M
16. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2016
Cristiano Ronaldo won Euro 2016 and the Champions League. He scored 51 goals in 48 games for Madrid and bagged 3 goals at Euro 2016 including the crucial opener in the semi-final against Wales. He was also a giant meme on the sidelines after getting injured in the final. Hard to ask for more, really!
STATS
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
15. Karim Benzema, 2022
If the Ballon d'Or was still given out in December, Benzema would not have won it as the 2022 World Cup would have shaped its destination, but with the award moving to October, Benzema was able to triumph.
And what a triumph it was! After years of being Cristiano's Alfred, now he could finally be Batman. Clutch goal after clutch goal saw him guide Madrid to a sensational La Liga and Champions League double. It was pure art.
STATS
Karim Benzema
F (C)
Al-Ittihad
Karim Benzema
F (C)
Al-Ittihad
14. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2008
Cristiano Ronaldo always believed he was the best player in the world but in 2008, he finally convinced everyone else too. Showing up with massive traps, this season was the beginning of Cristiano's obsessive hunger with scoring goals.
Guided by Rene Muelensteen and Sir Alex Ferguson, Cristiano became a precision weapon of goalscoring, powering Man Utd to what should have been a second Treble but for plucky Portsmouth winning at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
STATS
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
13. Kaka, 2007
Kaka and Juan Roman Riquelme were going head-to-head in 2007 to see who was the best player in the world. Riquelme was playing the better football, especially internationally, but Kaka won the Champions League and then, more importantly, led Brazil's devastation of Riquelme's Argentina in the Copa America final. Two years of bottling big games was all she wrote for Riquelme and Kaka took home the prize.
12. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2017
Despite all their trophies won it's rare that Real Madrid have been the best football team in the world. Now, they don't care about that as long as they win trophies, but in 2017 they were absolutely the best football team in the world.
Not only was Cristiano a goalscoring phenomenon, but his work dovetailing with Isco and Benzema in a three-headed Madrid attack made for some genuinely beautiful football. Madrid won their first European Double since the 1950's (no, really!) and it was largely because Ronaldo sacrificed his relentless pursuit of minutes and goals to maximise his impact in games.
STATS
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
11. Lionel Messi, 2015
Rounding back into form after his 2014 World Cup heartbreak, Lionel Messi was sensational in 2015 leading Barcelona to a sensational Treble (his second) as he put together perhaps the best front three football has ever seen along with Luis Suarez and Neymar. M-S-N was a deadly trio but Messi was the undoubted king, and his goal in the Copa del Rey final still needs to be seen to be believed.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
10. Luka Modric, 2018
Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo had won the Ballon d'Or for 10 straight years, but when Cristiano left Madrid that summer, Los Blancos turned their massive media machine to support someone else: Luka Modric.
And everyone else went with them. Modric had been the heartbeat so much of Madrid's success, and he did win the 2018 Champions League with them, and then alongside Ivan Rakitic he guided Croatia on an incredible journey through extra time and penalty shootouts all the way to the 2018 World Cup final.
Now, he lost that final, but the impression he left on the world won our hearts.
Current ETV
Luka Modrić
M, DM (C), AM (R)
Milan
Luka Modrić
M, DM (C), AM (R)
Milan
ETV Range
€1.8M - €2.7M
9. Fabio Cannavaro, 2006
Arrivia il pallone, lo mette fuori--CANNAVARO!
POI ANCORA INSISTE PODOLSKI--CANNAVARO!!
CANNAVARO!!!
Go and find the video clip of Alessandro Del Piero's goal for Italy against Germany in the 2006 World Cup semi-final. Watch how the move starts. That 6 seconds right there tells you everything about why Fabio Cannavaro won the Ballon d'Or. The last time a centre-back won it, but no one could complain. No one would dare. Italy's World Cup triumph was built on defence, it was built on Cannavaro.
8. Lionel Messi, 2009
When Ronaldinho was lauded as the best player in the world in 2005, he argued he couldn't be the best player in the world because he wasn't even the best player at Barcelona. At the time that was a ridiculous statement, but in 2009 the world saw was Ronaldinho was talking about. Empowered by Pep Guardiola, Lionel Messi went supernova in 2009 and guided Barcelona to an immaculate Treble. This was the birth of a dragon. The world had no idea what was coming.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
7. Lionel Messi, 2019
From the birth of a dragon to the death of one. Messi has won the Ballon d'Or twice more since this, largely off narrative, but this was the last time Messi was at that GOAT level. Where he was just undeniably the best, carrying the corpse of Josep Bartomeu's terrible presidency and Ernesto Valverde's insipid management all the way to win La Liga and reach the Champions League semi-final.
They fell short to Liverpool in frankly embarrassing fashion, but when the media asked Virgil van Dijk if he should win the Ballon d'Or, the Dutch defender (who was playing at an absolutely ridiculous level) said no, it should go to Messi because he's still the best.
And he really was.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
6. Ronaldinho, 2005
There is an idea in football that Brazil play "joga bonito" aka the beautiful game, but that's not really true. Sure, it used to be true. Garrincha, Pele, Jairzinho. The 60's and 70's was magic. Then came Zico, Socrates and the rest at the 1982 World Cup (ask your parents, or hit up YouTube)... but since then? It got increasingly less beautiful.
Until Ronaldinho, that is.
There were magical Brazilians between 1982 and 2005, to be sure, but they were only but so good, or their overpowering athelticism was as much a factor as their quality. Not so Ronaldinho. Here was a pure poet, a force of footballing invention. He would genuinely do the most ridiculous things every single week for Barcelona.
The whole concept of a YouTube compilation was basically invented to catalogue Ronaldinho's genius. He was a light in the darkness, and while that light only shone for three years, those were three magical years.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2014
From the moment Lionel Messi ascended in 2009 up until the Covid pandemic shut football down, he was the best footballer in the world. Despite what people say, there was never a GOAT debate, Cristiano was no closer to Messi than Hugo Sanchez was to Diego Maradona. It was apples and oranges.
Except for 2014.
2014 was a moment, a brief moment, where Messi's invincibility was waning. A terrible trophyless season with Barcelona where club president Sandro Rosell wanted to sell him to finance a new stadium (no, really) and then a crushing defeat in the 2014 World Cup final had Messi looking very mortal.
Cristiano Ronaldo, however? The Portuguese was on one. He was determined to prove he was better than Messi and he got close, he got damn close.
17 goals in 11 Champions League games (no I am not making that up), the Portuguese powered Real Madrid to the Champions League final where they finally claimed the mythic La Decima.
He scored 51 times in 47 games across all competitions, missing out on winning a Treble by just four points, and only his pathetic performance at the 2014 World Cup stopped him from genuinely, albeit briefly, overtaking Messi at the top of the game.
This was Peak Cristiano Ronaldo. A devastating force.
STATS
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo
F (C)
Al-Nassr
4. Lionel Messi, 2023
Lionel Messi was not the best player in the world in 2023 (sorry Haaland!) but because France Football moved the ceremony from the turn of the year to October, the 2022 award went to Karim Benzema and so, the biggest moment of 2022 was unrewarded. And it quite simply had to be rewarded.
Lionel Messi's quest to win the World Cup for Argentina, to claim the biggest prize of them all, looked like it would never happen. Injuries to crucial team-mates, Argentina's baffling lack of midfielders, Gonzalo Higuain... the reasons were many.
But in 2022 it all came together. Messi got himself three midfielders named Enzo, Rodrigo and Alexis. Guys who grew up watching Messi, guys who would kill themselves for Messi. A guy called Julian up-front who felt the same way about Messi. Emiliano in goal, proud tyrant and producer of the greatest save in World Cup history. Angel, El Fideo, Messi's running mate from the 2008 Olympic games where they won Gold.
Messi was their leader, they were his loyal soldiers. Argentina lost the first game to Saudi Arabia, then they went to war. Win after win after win. Grit, guts, garra. This run had it all. Messi was their heartbeat, their metronome. He killed Croatia in the semis. And in the final he scored twice in what is inarguably the greatest World Cup final ever.
Decades of failure redeemed. 5 million people flooded the streets of Buenos Aires to welcome them home. A legacy complete.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
3. Ronaldo, 2002
If the narrative of Messi's 2022 World Cup win was important, was powerful, then what Ronaldo gave us in 2002 was even moreso.
Ronaldo's "failure" was not just international, but at club level. And even more than Messi it was not his fault. Injuries and a mysterious siezure struck him down in his prime. Two consecutive ACL tears. He was out of the game for two years!
The best player on the planet (by miles and miles and MILES, try and imagine if Mbappe could finesse dribble like Lamine Yamal - that was Ronaldo) just blipped out of existence like Thanos hated him and him alone.
Then he came back. 7 goals in 16 games to end the 2001/02 season. The 2002 World Cup loomed large. He rocked up to the show and smashed in 8 goals including two in the final, guiding Brazil to win it all.
From looking like he may never play again to winning the biggest tournament in the world. No one could argue that Ronaldo deserved the Ballon d'Or. His triumph was iconic. Heroic. Phenomenal.
2. Lionel Messi, 2011
As much as narrative is very important, and as much as the World Cup is still the biggest trophy in football, sometimes you a footballer is so good that you just have to forget all that and admire the quality.
Lionel Messi and perhaps the best club side ever in 2011, then. A side without a striker, but with a 5'6 winger playing false nine. A side with a 5'9 defensive midfielder at centre-back but rarely if ever were punished for it because Messi's presence and ability to maintain the possession procession was so potent that Barcelona simply had the ball. Like, nearly all the time.
Barcelona won La Liga and the Champions League, producing an all-timer beatdown on Man Utd at Wembley. They would have won a Treble but for a terribly officiated game in which Real Madrid went Full Mourinho (#violence) to slow and stop Messi's Barcelona.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
1. Lionel Messi, 2012
When Sir Stanley Matthews won the first-ever Ballon d'Or in 1956, he won nothing. Playing for Blackpool, he ended the season with something like 4 goals and had 1 for England too. But he won, over the Champions League-winning Alfredo di Stefano, because he had been better that season. Because the quality of his football had been such that the journalists at France Football felt he had to be rewarded.
Trophies are important, but football is more important.
In 2012 Lionel Messi only won the Copa del Rey.
In 2012 Lionel Messi also scored 91 goals.
Yes, 91 goals in a single calendar year.
This was the GOAT at his most GOATness. A footballer beyond compare playing the game at such an absurdly high level, so much better than all of his peers, that he simply had to be rewarded with the Ballon d'Or.
Lionel Messi, the greatest of all-time.
STATS
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi
F, AM (R)
Inter Miami
Ranking every Ballon d'Or winner this century:
1. Lionel Messi, 2012
2. Lionel Messi, 2011
3. Ronaldo, 2002
4. Lionel Messi, 2023
5. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2014
6. Ronaldinho, 2005
7. Lionel Messi, 2019
8. Lionel Messi, 2009
9. Fabio Cannavaro, 2006
10. Luka Modric, 2018
11. Lionel Messi, 2015
12. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2017
13. Kaka, 2007
14. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2008
15. Karim Benzema, 2022
16. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2016
17. Rodri, 2024
18. Lionel Messi, 2021
19. Ousmane Dembele, 2025
20. Pavel Nedved, 2003
21. Messi, 2010
22. Andriy Shevchenko, 2004
23. Figo, 2000
24. Michael Owen, 2001
25. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2013
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