Football: 5 players with the most Ballon d’Or points in history

The Ballon d’Or is one of the biggest individual awards in football. The winner is chosen on the basis of a combination of votes from journalists, national team captains, and coaches. According to the YouTube channel StatsTube, Ronaldo has the highest points (3,601) compared to Messi (2,961) for nominations in the award’s history from 1956 to 2019. Surprisingly, Modric is third on 837 points ahead of Zinedine Zidane (715).

So, let’s take a look at the five players with the most Ballon d’Or points in history.

Virgil van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk hasn’t won the Ballon D’or award yet but made it to the top five in the list. He had a great run in the 2018-19 season and also came close to winning the award in 2019 and gave Lionel Messi a tough fight. He had won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool in the 2018-19 season. Van Dijk is the only defender to win UEFA Men’s Player of the Year, has finished runner-up for the Ballon d’Or and Best FIFA Men’s Player. He was also named PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season in his first full season.

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane is next on the list with 715 points. He won the Ballon d’Or award in 1998. In the same year, he led France to a World Cup victory. Zidane also received the Legion of Honour later that year. Zidane finished third in 1997 in the most prestigious award race. He has won the FIFA Player of the Year Award thrice in his career – 1998, 2000, and 2003.

Luka Modric

Luka Modric is third on the list with 837 points. He won the Ballon d’Or in 2018. The star midfielder led Croatia to the FIFA World Cup final in 2018. He had also won a third consecutive Champions League with Real Madrid that same year. (https://www.echelon.health) Modric was also chosen as the FIFA Best Men’s Player of 2018. The year 2018 truly belonged to Luka Modric and he was a deserving winner of the award ahead of Ronaldo and Messi.

Lionel Messi

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi is second on the list with 2961 points. Messi has won the Ballon d’Or in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2019. He finished second in the Ballon d’Or race on five occasions and also finished third once. Messi is on the verge to win a record seventh Ballon d’Or this year.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Portuguese star tops the list with 3601 points. Ronaldo has won the Ballon D’or award five times in his career so far. He won his first award during his time with Manchester United in 2008. And then won the next awards with Real Madrid. He won it in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Ronaldo also finished second in the most prestigious award race six times. He has also finished third once.

Top 10 players with the most points