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Every previous Ballon d’Or winner in Serie A

Football Italia
·3 min read
Every previous Ballon d’Or winner in Serie A
Every previous Ballon d’Or winner in Serie A

As the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony gets underway in Paris on Monday evening, here is a look back at all of the former recipients who picked up the accolade while playing in Serie A.

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Every Serie A player to win the Ballon d’Or

A Serie A player has not won the Ballon d’Or since Kaka back in 2007. The Brazilian was the most recent of the five former Milan players to win the most coveted individual prize in world football.

Brazilian Kaka' of AC Milan shows his Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball), in Milan, Lombardia Region, northern Italy, on 02 December 2007,. AC Milan and Brazil playmaker Kaka was awarded the 2007 Ballon d'Or by French magazine France Football on Sunday. Kaka, who won the Champions League with Milan last season, beat Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Barcelona's Lionel Messi of Argentina, who were second and third respectively. EPA/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Andriy Shevchenko came before Kaka in 2004, beating Barcelona pair Deco and Ronaldinho, who finished in second and third respectively that year.

Pavel Nedved won it the year prior in 2003 while playing for Juventus. He pipped Arsenal’s Thierry Henry and Milan legend Paolo Maldini in second and third that season.

1998 was the turn of Zinedine Zidane, who won the Ballon d’Or as a Juventus player. He made it to the Champions League final with the Bianconeri that year, losing 1-0 to Real Madrid in the end. He also scored twice in the final as France won the World Cup, which might have had something to do with his triumph that year.

Former soccer player Zinedine Zidane arrives for the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris, France, 17 October 2022. For the first time the Ballon d'Or, presented by the magazine France Football, will be awarded to the best players of the 2021-22 season instead of the calendar year. EPA-EFE/Mohammed Badra
Former soccer player Zinedine Zidane arrives for the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, France, 17 October 2022. For the first time the Ballon d’Or, presented by the magazine France Football, will be awarded to the best players of the 2021-22 season instead of the calendar year. EPA-EFE/Mohammed Badra

Ronaldo, ‘Brazilian Ronaldo,’ as he is known to some, won his only Ballon d’Or while with Inter the year before Zidane in 1997. He beat Predrag Mijatovic and Zidane in second and third place.

George Weah became the only African player to ever win the Ballon d’Or while with Milan in 1995., beating Jürgen Klinsmann of Bayern Munich and Jari Litmanen of Ajax.

Roberto Baggio won it in 1993 with Juventus, finishing above Dennis Bergkamp, then of Inter, and Eric Cantona of Manchester United.

Marco van Basten won three while with Milan in 1988, 1989 and 1992. There was a Ballon d’Or win for Germany’s World Cup winner Lothar Matthäus, then of Inter in 1990.

Michel Platini, another in the select few to have won three Ballon d’Or trophies, won all of his consecutively between 1983 and 1985, all of which coming while he was still at Juventus.

Paolo Rossi, star of the 1982 World Cup, won it the year before Platini’s treble began. He was also at Juventus at the time.

Gianni Rivera won it in 1969, beating Gig Riva of Cagliari at the time, and Franz Beckenbauer of Bayern Munich.

The first Italian, or Serie A representative to win the Ballon d’Or was Omar Sivori of Juventus in 1961, beating Luis Suarez, then of Inter, and Johnny Haynes of Fulham.