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The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award in football. The race for football's top honour has been blown wide open this year. As opposed to previous years, there are no standout favourites who have much of an edge over the competition.
Ballon d'Or is decided via a voting system
So how is the Ballon d'Or winner picked? The winner is chosen via a voting system that consists of journalists, coaches and captains. They vote for their first, second and third best player of the calendar year. Votes for first place fetches five points. Votes for second place get three points and votes for third place get one.
The number of voters has increased in recent times and players accumulate more points these days than they used to in past Ballon d'Or races. YouTuber StatsTube has calculated how many points each nominated player received between 1956 and 2019.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the five players with the most Ballon d'Or points in history.
#5 Virgil van Dijk - 679 points
Going back to the point we made in the introduction, the number of voters have increased substantially in the Ballon d'Or race in recent times. Virgil van Dijk makes the top five on the list without ever having won the Ballon d'Or.
He did come close to winning it in 2019 and gave Lionel Messi a run for his money. Van Dijk had won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool in the 2018-19 season. He was a colossus at the back for the Merseysiders and held the fort down for Jurgen Klopp's men.
He did win the UEFA Men's Player of the Year and the PFA Players' Player of the Year award in 2019. The Dutchman also finished second in the 2019 FIFA Men's Best Player Award.
#4 Zinedine Zidane - 715 points
Zinedine Zidane is one of the most elegant players to have ever graced the game. Zizou led France to World Cup glory in 1998 and won the Ballon d'Or that year as well. He continued to be a dominant presence at the heart of midfield for France for almost a decade more and retired at the peak of his powers in 2006.
Zidane also finished third in the 1997 Ballon d'Or race. The Frenchman has won the FIFA Player of the Year Award thrice in his career. He won it in 1998, 2000 and 2003.
#3 Luka Modric - 837 points
Luka Modric has the distinction of being the player to have finally broken the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly over Ballon d'Or. The Croatian international won the Ballon d'Or in 2018 and it was well deserved.
The midfielder played a starring role in Croatia's journey to the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He had also won a third consecutive Champions League with Real Madrid that same year. Modric had a great summer and he was finally getting the recognition he always deserved.
Modric has amassed 837 points in the Ballon d'Or race. He was also chosen as the FIFA Best Men's Player of 2018. It was a wonderful year for the diminutive Croat, who has been crucial to Real Madrid's dominance in Europe in the last decade.
#2 Lionel Messi - 2961 points
That's right. The record six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi is not at the top of the list. He comes second with 2961 points. Messi has won the Ballon d'Or in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
He finished second in the Ballon d'Or race on five separate occasions as well. Messi also finished third once. Messi is tipped to win a record seventh Ballon d'Or this year and after having won the Copa America 2021, we wouldn't be too surprised if he does.
But he is behind his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo in Ballon d'Or points despite having won the award more times than him.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo - 3601 points
Cristiano Ronaldo is way ahead of Lionel Messi in terms of Ballon d'Or points. The Portuguese international won his first Ballon d'Or during his time with Manchester United in 2008. He then joined Real Madrid in 2009 and went on to become one of the best players to have ever worn their storied whites.
Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or four more times during his time with Los Blancos. He won it in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. The 36-year-old also finished second in the Ballon d'Or race six times. He has also finished third once.
Despite being 36-years-old, Ronaldo is still going strong. He is also a part of the 2021 Ballon d'Or race after having won the Golden Boot in the 2020-21 Serie A season and at Euro 2020.
Lionel Messi might be able to catch up with Ronaldo or even overtake him in the Ballon d'Or points race in the future but for now the Juventus man is on top.
