Ballon d'Or: Messi and Ronaldo year by year
A dated ledger of every men's Ballon d'Or from 2008 to 2025. Each edition counts once, and other award families are kept separate.
The short answer
Through the 2025 award, Lionel Messi has won the men's Ballon d'Or eight times and Cristiano Ronaldo five times, according to the award organiser's own list of winners.
The count covers editions already presented. It says nothing about the 2026 award, and it does not add separate FIFA awards as extra Ballons d'Or.
Headline count
Ballon d'Or wins through 2025
Both players are measured against the same award and the same completed run of editions, so a like-for-like count is possible here.
- Scope
- Men's Ballon d'Or, one count per edition
- Cutoff
- Through the 2025 award
- Source
- Ballon d'Or (organiser)
Lionel Messi
8 awards
VerifiedCristiano Ronaldo
5 awards
Verified- Scope
- Men's Ballon d'Or editions, 2008 to 2025
- Cutoff
- Through the 2025 award
- Source
- Ballon d'Or (organiser)
| Metric | Messi | Ronaldo |
|---|---|---|
| Ballon d'Or wins | leads in this scope8 | 5 |
| First winAward year | 2009 | 2008 |
| Most recent winAward year | 2023 | 2017 |
| Wins in the joint FIFA Ballon d'Or editions2010 to 2015, already included in the total above | 4 | 2 |
Each edition counts once. The 2010–2015 editions, presented jointly with FIFA as the FIFA Ballon d'Or, are part of the eight and the five, not additions to them. Years are the award years as listed by the organiser. 2020 was not awarded and is not counted for anyone. | ||
Year ledger
Every edition from 2008 to 2025
Eighteen years and seventeen presented editions. Messi and Ronaldo account for thirteen of them. Four other players won the award in this period, and in 2020 the award was not presented.
- Scope
- Men's Ballon d'Or winners by award year
- Cutoff
- 2008 to 2025 inclusive
- Source
- Ballon d'Or (organiser)
- 2008Ronaldo
- 2009Messi
- 2010Messi
- 2011Messi
- 2012Messi
- 2013Ronaldo
- 2014Ronaldo
- 2015Messi
- 2016Ronaldo
- 2017Ronaldo
- 2018Modrić
- 2019Messi
- 2020Not awarded
- 2021Messi
- 2022Benzema
- 2023Messi
- 2024Rodri
- 2025Dembélé
- Won by Messi or Ronaldo (name shown)
- Another winner
- Not awarded
Scope note: 2020
The organiser did not present a Ballon d'Or in 2020. The timeline shows that year as not awarded. It is not a missing win for either player, and no winner has been inferred for it.
Counting policy
How the award families are kept apart
Award histories overlap, and careless counting can inflate a total. These rules apply to every figure on this page.
One edition, one count
Each year's award counts once for its winner. Nothing is double-counted when an award changes name or organising partner.
The FIFA Ballon d'Or years are single editions
From 2010 to 2015 the award was presented jointly with FIFA under the name FIFA Ballon d'Or. Those six editions sit inside the ledger above. Messi won four of them and Ronaldo two.
Separate FIFA awards are not extra Ballons d'Or
FIFA's own player awards outside the joint period are a different award family. They are never added to the Ballon d'Or total.
Other individual awards wait for verification
Golden Shoes, tournament player awards and similar honours are not listed yet. Club biographies mention some of them, but those pages are historical and are not used here for current totals.
No forecast of 2026
The organiser's list was published on 5 October 2026 and covers awards through 2025. This page draws no conclusion about any later edition.
Interpretation
What eight and five can and cannot say
The organiser lists eight wins for Messi and five for Ronaldo, all awarded between 2008 and 2023. Between them they took every edition from 2008 to 2017.
One reading is that the award captures a long shared peak. Ten consecutive editions went to one of the two, and Messi's later wins in 2019, 2021 and 2023 account for most of the final gap. The Ballon d'Or is decided by a vote, though, so the totals record how voters judged each year. They are not a direct measure of performance on the pitch.
Individual awards also sit alongside collective success rather than replacing it. The team trophies ledger treats titles as achievements of whole squads, and the records page dates each scoring record with its competition and population. For the counting principles behind all three, see the methodology, or return to the Honours and records hub.
Questions
Reader questions about this ledger
Why is 2020 shown, if nobody won it?
Leaving the year out would make the timeline look continuous when it is not. Showing it as not awarded keeps the strip honest and makes clear that neither player's total depends on that year.
Do the FIFA Ballon d'Or years count twice?
No. The 2010–2015 editions were single awards presented jointly with FIFA. Each one counts once, inside the eight and the five.
Why is the source page in French?
The award organiser published its year-by-year winners list in French. Only the factual content, meaning the years and winners, has been translated here. No wording has been copied.
Sources for this page
- Ballon d'Or / AmauryWinners of the Ballon d'Or over the last 20 years (French-language article)