Ranking the 4 players to have won the Ballon d'Or with multiple clubs
The Ballon d'Or is the highest accolade a player can win in the sport of football. Since the award's inception in 1955, some of the best players in the game's history have won it. However, only a handful of them - ten to be exact - have won the Ballon d'Or award on multiple occasions.
Fewer still have won the prestigious award with multiple clubs. At the 2021 Ballon d'Or award ceremony, Lionel Messi won a record-extending seventh award. In the process, he joined an exclusive group of players to win Ballon d'Or titles at more than one club.
On that note, here's a look at the quartet who have achieved this rare feat over the years:
#4 Ronaldo Nazario (two-time Ballon d'Or winner)
Ronaldo Nazario is one of the most lethal and skilful strikers in the game's history. If not for nagging injuries and a suspect temperament, he could have achieved a lot more than what he eventually did.
Nevertheless, Ronaldo has won almost every major trophy in club and international football. Only the UEFA Champions League is conspicuous by its absence from his glittering trophy cabinet.
In a blistering 1996-97 campaign for Barcelona - his lone one at the club - Ronaldo scored a club-record 47 goals across competitions. Inter Milan snapped him up on a then world-record $27 million transfer. A few months later, the then 21-year-old became the youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or award.
Ronaldo scored six goals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where Brazil won their fifth and most recent FIFA World Cup title. He moved to Real Madrid that summer, on another world-record transfer. He scored 30 goals across competitions in his debut campaign in Madrid, winning the La Liga title.
For his extraordinary exploits during the year, especially at the World Cup, Ronaldo won his second Ballon d'Or award. That made him only the second player in history to win the prestigious accolade with two different clubs.
#3 Johan Cryuff (three-time Ballon d'Or winner)
Johan Cruyff is one of only five players to win at least three Ballon d'Or awards. The brilliant Dutchman is widely regarded as the pioneer of the revolutionary 'Total Football' concept.
His exploits helped Ajax emerge from relative anonymity and become a European powerhouse, with Cryuff powering them to three successive European Cup triumphs. The first of those triumphs in 1971 helped Cruyff win the Ballon d'Or award that year.
Two years later, after leading Ajax to their third-straight European title, he left the Dutch giants for Barcelona before winning his second Ballon d'Or award as a Blaugrana player.
Another award followed in 1974 after Cruyff helped Barcelona to their first league title in over a decade. That season, the Blaugrana won 5-0 at the home of their arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Cruyff later won more accolades as manager, leading Barcelona's 'Dream Team' to four successive league titles and the European Cup.
#2 Lionel Messi (seven-time Ballon d'Or winner)
It might be surprising to find the most successful player in Ballon d'Or history in second place on this list. But there is a reason for that.
Lionel Messi has already won a record six Ballon d'Or awards while at Barcelona. He added another to that tally last night, becoming only the fourth player ever to win the accolade with multiple clubs.
However, the PSG attacker won his latest award, largely because of his exploits with Barcelona earlier in the year and with Argentina at Copa America 2021. At PSG, he has had a subdued start to life, scoring only four times in 11 games across competitions, not enough to even put him in the Ballon d'Or reckoning.
Earlier in the year, the Argentine won the Copa del Rey. He also scored 30 times to win a record-extending eighth Pichichi award even as Barcelona finished third. Later in the summer, he led from the front in Argentina's successful Copa America 2021 campaign.
Messi topped both the goals (4) and assists (5) charts as La Albiceleste became the toast of their continent for the first time in almost three decades. That proved decisive as the 34-year-old edged out Robert Lewandowski for the 2021 Ballon d'Or award.
The Argentine won his first Ballon d'Or award in 2009 after inspiring Barcelona to their first continental treble. He followed that up with three more in as many years, becoming the first player in the award's history to do a three-peat.
Messi won his fifth Ballon d'Or award in 2015 after winning another continental treble with the Blaugrana. Four years later, he won his sixth, after another breakout year for club and country.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (five-time Ballon d'Or winner)
Cristiano Ronaldo, along with Messi, is one of only two players to have won at least five Ballon d'Or awards.
Ronaldo first won the prestigious accolade after a breakout campaign in 2008 for Manchester United. He scored 41 times across competitions in 2007-08 as United successfully defended their league title and won the Champions League.
A year later, Ronaldo was on his way to Real Madrid on a world-record transfer. There, his career reached stratospheric levels. He won his first two Ballon d'Or awards with the club, second and third overall, in 2013-14. The second one came after Ronaldo played a starring role in Real Madrid's Champions League La Decima.
Two years later, Ronaldo had a sensational campaign for club and country. After winning his third Champions League title, he led Portugal to Euro 2016 glory to win his fourth Ballon d'Or award.
A year later, Ronaldo moved level with Messi, winning a then record-equalling fifth Ballon d'Or title. That year, the Portuguese won his second La Liga title and second-consecutive Champions League title, fourth overall.
Four years later, he endured his first finish outside the Ballon d'Or top five in 11 years.
The 36-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down any time soon. He could be back in the Ballon d'Or reckoning in 2022 with a strong campaign for club and country.
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