The Ballon d'Or: Full List of Recipients of this prestigious award celebrating Football Excellence from 1960 to 2023

The Ballon d'Or, an annual award presented by the esteemed French magazine ‘France Football’, stands as one of the most prestigious individual honours in the world of football. This accolade has been recognizing exceptional talent in the sport since its inception in 1956 when England's Stanley Matthews became the first-ever recipient.

From the illustrious Stanley Matthews to the modern greats like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the Ballon d'Or has celebrated the very best in football which is known getting this award is considered to be a great achievement in the world of Football.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the Ballon d'Or award for the past 15 years, winning it 13 times between them. Messi won his first Ballon d'Or just five years into his senior professional career. Karim Benzema won the prestigious accolade last year and fans are excited to know this year's recipient of this prestigious award.

Here's the full list of Ballon d'Or Winners

Before that let's have a glance at the Distinguished List of Ballon d'Or recipients over the past 67 years. The list of winners showcases the evolution of football's finest:

 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: Johan Cruyff (Ajax)

1972: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)

1973: Johan Cruyff (Barcelona)

1974: Johan Cruyff (Barcelona)

1975: Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv)

1976: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)

1977: Allan Simonsen (Borussia Monchengladbach)

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 (Internazionale)

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: Matthias Sammer (Borussia Dortmund)

1997: Ronaldo (Internazionale)

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 (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

2021: Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)

2022: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

2023: TBA