2 weeks Ago By Ben Miller
Manchester City's talismanic striker is usually too busy scoring more goals to be thinking about awards, but Erling Haaland was certainly competing to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or. The Norwegian has been in awesome goalscoring form ever since joining City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022, in a £52 million ($62.6m) transfer.
Haaland was unable to pip odds-on favourite Lionel Messi to the prize. The Inter Miami star won the award for the eighth time in his career after inspiring Argentina's World Cup heroics in 2022, meaning the wait for a Premier League player to lift the prize will go on for at least a 16th year. Nevertheless, after a second consecutive Premier League title and Golden Boot, Haaland is back on the 2024 Ballon d'Or shortlist , with Messi not among the 30 nominees.
He and City teammate Rodri are considered the best candidates to win the trophy at Monday's gala in Paris . The Sporting News runs through the players from the Premier League (or English first division) to have won previous editions of the Ballon d'Or, as well as more details on the award. MORE: What happened to Neymar? The sad story of PSG failure and ill-fated chase for the Ballon d'Or Who was the last Premier League player to win the Ballon d'Or? Cristiano Ronaldo remains the last player to have won while operating in the Premier League because of his first honour, which came during his first spell at Manchester United in 2008.
Karim Benzema's win in 2022 came after Ronaldo and Messi had won all but one of the previous 13 titles between them. Others have gone close: City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne came third last in 2022, as did Chelsea's Jorginho in 2021 — although they were both a long distance behind respective winners Benzema and Messi in points terms. Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk missed out to Messi by only seven points in 2019, and Ronaldo (United), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Fernando Torres (Liverpool) and Thierry Henry (Arsenal) have all finished in the top three since the Reds' Michael Owen prevailed in 2001.
Haaland is the latest to get close after coming second in the 2023 vote, and Rodri is expected to make the podium in 2024. All Cristiano Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or #ballondor pic.twitter.
com/YrvJqFxKO2 The Premier League in its current guise did not exist when a player from the division previously won the Ballon d'Or. Northern Ireland legend George Best played for Man United in the First Division — the original name for the Premier League — when he won it in 1968. Best was the third player for an English club to win in five years, following Bobby Charlton in 1966 and Denis Law in 1964, both of whom were also partly rewarded for their achievements at United.
Law was the next representative of English teams to win after Stanley Matthews, the inaugural Ballon d'Or recipient in 1956. Matthews had helped Blackpool — now a third-tier team — finish as First Division runners-up and dazzled in the colours of England. Here is the full list of Ballon d'Or winners who played for Premier League or old First Division teams at the time.
Year Player Team 1956 Stanley Matthews Blackpool 1964 Denis Law Manchester United 1966 Bobby Charlton Manchester United 1968 George Best Manchester United 2001 Michael Owen Liverpool 2008 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United Who votes for the Ballon d'Or? For the men's Ballon d'Or award, votes are now cast by 100 journalists from the 100 top ranked FIFA nations. They are asked to rank their top five players from the 30-man shortlist in order of merit. The player ranked first receives five points, the second four points, and so on.
Karim Benzema, the last Ballon d'Or winner! #ballondor pic.twitter.com/sAsi29wPoU The overall winner is confirmed by the player with the most total points from the votes.
In the unlikely event of a tie, the winner is whoever has most first-place votes. Journalists will be instructed that individual performances should form the basis of their votes, with team trophies a secondary factor. Favourites to win Ballon d'Or 2024 Haaland is in contention once again but his Manchester City team-mate Rodri is the best-placed Premier League player to prevail.
City did not lose a game with Rodri in their team in England's top flight last season and the midfielder was similarly imperious as Spain romped to glory at Euro 2024. Ironically, an Englishman might get in Rodri's way. Jude Bellingham excelled in his debut season at Real Madrid and is tipped for a top-two finish, likely behind favourite Vinicius Junior .
MORE: Full list of Ballon d'Or 2024 nominees Previous Ballon d'Or winners Dutch giant Johan Cruyff became the first player to win the award three times in the 1970s. French star Michel Platini won three in a row — the first to achieve that feat — in the 1980s. More recently, Messi beat Robert Lewandowski by a narrow margin for his seventh trophy in 2021.
Year Player Club 1956 Stanley Matthews Blackpool 1957 Alfredo Di Stefano Real Madrid 1958 Raymond Kopa Real Madrid 1959 Alfredo Di Stefano Real Madrid 1960 Luis Suarez Barcelona 1961 Omar Sivori Juventus 1962 Josef Masopust Dukla Prague 1963 Lev Yashin Dynamo Moscow 1964 Denis Law Manchester United 1965 Eusebio Benfica 1966 Bobby Charlton Manchester United 1967 Florian Albert Ferencvaros 1968 George Best Manchester United 1969 Gianni Rivera AC Milan 1970 Gerd Muller Bayern Munich 1971 Johann Cruyff Ajax 1972 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich 1973 Johann Cruyff Barcelona 1974 Johann Cruyff Barcelona 1975 Oleg Blokhin Dynamo Kyiv 1976 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich 1977 Allan Simonsen Gladbach 1978 Kevin Keegan Hamburg 1979 Kevin Keegan Hamburg 1980 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Bayern Munich 1981 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Bayern Munich 1982 Paolo Rossi Juventus 1983 Michel Platini Juventus 1984 Michel Platini Juventus 1985 Michel Platini Juventus 1986 Igor Belanov Dynamo Kyiv 1987 Ruud Gullit AC Milan 1988 Marco van Basten AC Milan 1989 Marco van Basten AC Milan 1990 Lothar Matthaus Inter Milan 1991 Jean-Pierre Papin Marseille 1992 Marco van Basten AC Milan 1993 Roberto Baggio Juventus 1994 Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona 1995 George Weah AC Milan 1996 Mathias Sammer Borussia Dortmund 1997 Ronaldo Inter Milan 1998 Zinedine Zidane Juventus 1999 Rivaldo Barcelona 2000 Luis Figo Real Madrid 2001 Michael Owen Liverpool 2002 Ronaldo Real Madrid 2003 Pavel Nedved Juventus 2004 Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan 2005 Ronaldinho Barcelona 2006 Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid 2007 Kaka AC Milan 2008 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United 2009 Lionel Messi Barcelona 2010 Lionel Messi Barcelona 2011 Lionel Messi Barcelona 2012 Lionel Messi Barcelona 2013 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 2015 Lionel Messi Barcelona 2016 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 2017 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 2018 Luka Modric Real Madrid 2019 Lionel Messi Barcelona 2020 Cancelled due to pandemic — 2021 Lionel Messi PSG 2022 Karim Benzema Real Madrid 2023 Lionel Messi Inter Miami.
