Ballon d'Or Winner 2021: Lionel Messi wins record 7th award, Alexia Putellas wins first- Check Full List of Winners

Ballon dOr winners list: Lionel Messi won the men’s Ballon d’Or award for a record seventh time on November 30, 2021. Spain's Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or award for the first time.

The Ballon d’Or trophees are brought by Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon from @AlpineF1Team!

🧭 48°51'27.3"N 2°20'49.4"E
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— Ballon d'Or #ballondor (@francefootball) November 29, 2021

The 34-year-old Messi, who had led Argentina to the Copa America title in July 2021,  won the award over another award favourite Bayern Munich striker, Robert Lewandowski, who was predicted to win the prize last year after a sensational season. Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz gave the Ballon d’Or to Messi.

When Luis Suarez gives the #ballondor to Messi! pic.twitter.com/uUHhMgtVfR

— Ballon d'Or #ballondor (@francefootball) November 29, 2021

This year, two new Ballon d’Or awards were also introduced- 'The Striker of the Year' & 'The Club of the Year'.  While the striker of the year award went to Robert Lewandowski, the Best Club of the Year award went to Chelsea.

Congratulations Leo Messi and @alexiaputellas winners of the #BallonDor2021, congratulations also to all nominated players!👏 I won Striker of the Year Award and no Player can win an individual award without strongest team and loyal fans behind him. Thank you for your support🤜🤛 pic.twitter.com/I6j4BtluYS

— Robert Lewandowski (@lewy_official) November 29, 2021

The Kopa trophy for best young player under the age of 21 years went to Barcelona’s Pedri. The Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper went Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Ballon d'Or Award

The Ballon d'Or is one of the oldest and most prestigious individual awards in football that is presented annually by the French news magazine France Football. The prize has been awarded every year since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year after an agreement with FIFA and was known as FIFA Ballon d'Or. 

The award reverted to Ballon d'Or in 2016 and FIFA also went back to its own separate award. The recipients of FIFA Ballon d'Or are considered as winners of both awards. 

Which player has won the Ballon d’Or award most number times?

Lionel Messi has now won the Ballon d’Or award a record seven times, six while he was playing for Barcelona and first time while playing for Paris Saint-Germain. Cristiano Ronaldo follows closely with five Ballon d’Or awards, one while he was playing for Manchester United and four with Real Madrid. 

Besides them, three footballers have won the award three times each- Michel Platini of Juventus, Johan Cruyff of Barcelona and Ajax and Marco van Basten of Milan. Two Spanish football clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid lead the ranking for employing the most number of Ballon d’Or award winners, with 12 and 11 wins respectively. 

AND THE SEVEN BALLON D’OR FOR LIONEL MESSI! #ballondor pic.twitter.com/8XDzlAKPaM

— Ballon d'Or #ballondor (@francefootball) November 29, 2021

List of Ballon dOr winners since 2005

Top 10 Players with most Ballon d’Or awards