Every year since 1956, the popular edition of France Football, after voting among the most respected sports publications, presents the Golden Ball prize. If earlier it was awarded only to the best football players in Europe, now a player from any part of the world playing for the European club can become the winner of the prize.
The best football players in Europe
Until 1995, the owners of the Golden Ball could only be Europeans. Since 1995, the list of winners has been allowed to include players of any nationality from other regions of the planet playing for European clubs. The first non-European athlete to receive this award was in the same year, Milan footballer George Weah. In 2007, the rules changed again: now, immigrants from Europe, who play for a club in any country of the world, can also get on the list of Golden Ball owners.
Poll Terms
The Golden Ball was established by Gabriel Ano. As editor of France Football, in 1956 he invited his fellow journalists to name the best football player of the year in Europe.
If earlier the questionnaire included 50 football players, now there are only 23. Of them, reputable football journalists select the best player. The voter must choose five players, giving each of them from 1 to 5 points. The owners of the Golden Ball are the athletes who scored the most points.
Those who took second and third places were awarded silver and bronze balls, respectively. Since 2010, FIFA is also involved in organizing the survey, according to which the winner is determined, together with France Football.
Some statistics
Over the entire lifetime of the prize, he was awarded 35 times by the attackers, 4 times the defenders owned the trophy, 17 times - midfielders. And only once the goalkeeper was recognized as the prize winner - this is the best goalkeeper in the world Lev Yashin.
Seven times the owners of the Golden Ball were citizens of Germany and the Netherlands. Argentina would also have seven trophies, but only Leonel Messi, who owned the prize four times, was a citizen of this country at the time the prize was awarded, and three more (two - Di Stefano and one - Omar Sivori) were owned by Argentines who changed citizenship. Five times the French, Italians, British, Brazilians lifted him above his head. Three times the prize was awarded to representatives of the USSR: Oleg Blokhin, Lev Yashin and Igor Belanov.
Among the clubs, Barcelona is the leader in the number of prizes: eight Golden Goals. Juventus has seven, Milan has six, Real Madrid has owned the Golden Ball five times.
Some owners of the Golden Ball have received it several times. Most of all, Leonel Messi owned the trophy - for four years in a row he was recognized as the best player. Three times he received the prize Michel Platini, and also in a row - during 1983-85. Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten were also awarded three times, but in different years.
The Brazilian Ronaldo was the youngest player to win the Golden Ball: he was only 21 years old at the time the prize was awarded. The oldest Golden Ball winner is Stanley Matthews, who won the 41-year-old prize.
Currently, five trophy owners are no longer alive. From the list of winners, seven football players continue to perform.