Ranking Ballon d’Or winners means ranking greatness against greatness. We favoured the players who collected the award again and again, and did it against the strongest fields the game has ever assembled.

1. 1

   Lionel Messi

   Argentina · Forward

   A record eight Ballons d’Or, more than any player in history, spread across a decade and a half at the summit.

2. 2

   Cristiano Ronaldo

   Portugal · Forward

   Five Golden Balls won in a relentless personal duel that defined an entire era of the sport.

3. 3

   Michel Platini

   France · Midfielder

   Three in a row from 1983 to 1985, an attacking midfielder scoring at a rate the position had never seen.

4. 4

   Johan Cruyff

   Netherlands · Forward

   Three awards for the mind and movement that made Total Football real.

5. 5

   Marco van Basten

   Netherlands · Striker

   Three Golden Balls and the most beautiful centre-forward play of his generation, before injury cut it short.

6. 6

   Alfredo Di Stéfano

   Argentina / Spain · Forward

   Two awards and the complete forward who powered Real Madrid’s early European dynasty.

7. 7

   Franz Beckenbauer

   Germany · Defender

   Twice a winner as a defender — proof of how completely Der Kaiser redefined the back line.

8. 8

   Ronaldo Nazário

   Brazil · Striker

   Two Golden Balls, in 1997 and 2002, bookending a career of phenomenal talent and remarkable recovery.

9. 9

   Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

   Germany · Forward

   Back-to-back awards in 1980 and 1981 for Bayern Munich’s elegant and lethal forward.

10. 10

    Kevin Keegan

    England · Forward

    Two European Footballer of the Year awards during a fearless, driven peak in the Bundesliga.

A LeaguePaper editorial ranking — opinion, offered for argument.