Last Premier League player to win Ballon d’Or: Erling Haaland chasing football’s top prize
Manchester City’s top scorer is too busy scoring more goals to be thinking about awards, but Erling Haaland’s spectacular 2022-23 season will put him in contention again for the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
The Premier League newcomer scored 36 of his 52 goals for City in the league and continued the international form that has seen him score 24 goals in 25 games so far for Norway.
Haaland could now become the first player in 15 years from the English top flight to win the most prestigious individual award in football.
Here are the players from the 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?
Karim Benzema’s win last year came after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had won all but one of the previous 13 titles.
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.
Others have gone close: City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne came third last year, 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.
All Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or #ballondor pic.twitter.com/YrvJqFxKO2
— Ballon d’Or #ballondor (@ballondor) August 23, 2023
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 – 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. Striker Matthews had helped Blackpool – currently a third-tier team – finish as First Division runners-up.
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 | Man United |
| 1966 | Bobby Charlton | Man United |
| 1968 | George Best | Man United |
| 2001 | Michael Owen | Liverpool |
| 2008 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Man United |
When is Ballon d’Or 2023?
The shortlist of nominees for the award will be confirmed on September 6, 2023, with the Ballon d’Or ceremony taking place on October 30, 2023.
The Ballon d’Or will continue its updated policy of taking into account performances across a season (August-July) and not a calendar year (January-December).
Who votes for Ballon d’Or in 2023?
For the men’s Ballon d’Or award, votes are cast by 180 journalists from around the world, with each representing a different country.
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
— Ballon d’Or #ballondor (@ballondor) August 19, 2023
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 2023
Messi has long been the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or 2023 despite his departure from PSG and the Parisians’ failure to win the Champions League in 2022/23.
However, his incredible leadership of Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title will be a crucial factor, alongside 20 goals for PSG in his farewell campaign.
Haaland is the second-favourite to win the award for the first time on the back of a sensational maiden season with Pep Guardiola’s side.
MORE: Ballon d’Or odds 2023 as Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland top list of candidates for football award
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 |
