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The objective of every football match is to win, and games are only won when enough goals are scored, hence it is for this reason that strikers who have perfected the art of goalscoring are highly revered.
Throughout history, we have been blessed to witness some truly legendary forwards take to the field and these men gave us memories which would forever be held dearly.
Whether it was Pele announcing himself as a teenager at the 1958 World Cup, Diego Maradona achieving mythical status in Naples in the 1980s, or Messi and Ronaldo redefining what it means to be a top-level professional athlete in the current era, we have had no shortage of iconic players who took goalscoring to new heights.
The Ballon d'Or generally rewards top-level performance from players and given their status as match-winners, it comes as no surprise that forwards have largely dominated the award's history, with over 65% of the winners since 1956.
The list of forwards to have won the Ballon d'Or contains names of players who truly revolutionized the sport and an attempt to classify them hierarchically is almost impossible.
However, some made more of an impact than others and in this piece, we shall be ranking the top five forwards to have won the Ballon d'Or.
Honorable mentions: George Best, Eusebio, Kevin Keegan, Marco Van Basten
#5 Gerd Muller (1970)
It was a very difficult decision to keep Marco Van Basten off this list, as in what was a relatively short career, the former Dutch international was an exceptional center-forward and the figurehead of the Milan team that dominated football in the late 1980s.
However, Gerd Muller was the standard-bearer for center-forwards much earlier and set the template for future stalwarts in the role including Marco Van Basten to follow and for this reason, he makes the list at the expense of the Dutch great.
In his heydey, Gerd Muller scored goals for fun and helped Bayern Munich to three consecutive European Cups, as well as numerous Bundesliga titles.
Success also came on the international stage with West Germany by way of the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup two years later.
Even though these great sides had legendary players like Frank Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, and Uli Hoeness, Gerd Muller was the talisman of the teams, scoring the goals that helped both Bayern Munich and Germany to the most successful period in their footballing history.
Nicknamed 'Die Bomber', Muller scored goals for fun and won Golden Boots in almost every tournament he participated in, including the World Cup, European Championship, Bundesliga (seven times), and European Golden Shoe (four times).
To date, he is the top goalscorer in the history of the Bundesliga (365 goals from just 427 matches), while he is also Bayern Munich's record goalscorer (563 goals from 605 matches), Germany's (68 from 62 matches) and holds numerous other scoring records.
His previous record for most goals at the FIFA World Cup (14) was surpassed by Ronaldo de Lima in 2006, as well as Miroslav Klose in 2014, while his unbelievable total of 85 goals in the calendar year of 972 stood for many years until Lionel Messi equaled and broke the mark with 91 exactly 40 years later.
The Nordlingen native ended his career with a staggering 735 goals from just 793 matches at a ratio of 0.93 goals per game and currently sits fifth on the standing of players with most official goals in history.
It might come as a surprise to find out that despite his heroics in front of goal, Gerd Muller won the Ballon d'Or on just one occasion, but this is rather a testament to the number of all-time greats who played alongside him including Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer.
Also check out: Champions league top scorers Champions League table La liga table 2019-20
#4 Alfredo di Stefano (1957, 1959)
Real Madrid is the most successful football club on the European continent and one of the most successful in history, but it can be argued that they would not have been the club they are today if not for Alfredo di Stefano's legendary displays for Los Blancos.
After starring in his native South America with River Plate and Milloniarios, Alfredo di Stefano was the subject of bids from both Barcelona and Real Madrid, with the latter winning his signature after the interference of the Spanish dictator General Franco.
The intricacy of his transfer to Real Madrid helped stoke the flames of the bitter rivalry between both clubs which was only intensified when the Catalans saw how integral he was to the early success enjoyed by the capital club.
Real Madrid made history by winning each of the first five editions of the newly formed European Cup and Alfredo di Stefano played no small part in each of the victories.
The late Buenos Aires native scored in each of those five finals, with his hat-trick in the 7-3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 final considered as his best performance in a Real Madrid shirt.
Di Stefano played alongside other Real Madrid icons like Ferenk Puskas, Francisco Gento and Raymond Kopa, but was the standout player and was universally acclaimed.
He was described glowingly as a complete player by his contemporaries including Eusebio and Pele, while also drawing praise for his goalscoring ability as well as all-round ability.
Alfredo di Stefano ended his Real Madrid career with 308 goals from 396 matches and this was a record at the club until Raul and later Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed it. He also held the previous record for most goals in European Cup history with 49 until Raul against surpassed him in 2005.
Incredibly, he represented three different countries in his career; Argentina, Colombia, and Spain (as FIFA eligibility rules back then were more flexible), but curiously never played at a World Cup.
For his efforts in helping Real Madrid to the 1957 and 1959 European Cups, Di Stefano was named the Ballon d'Or winner, also, finishing as the runner-up finish in the first edition of the awards.
In 1989, 'the blonde arrow' achieved the unique distinction of winning the Super Ballon d'Or and to date, he is the only man to have been honored with this special award.
#3 Ronaldo de Lima (1997, 2002)
Ronaldo Nazario is considered by many to be the best center-forward in the history of football and it is hard to argue against this viewpoint.
El Fenomeno was truly a legendary player who left an indelible mark on the game of football and is arguably the most complete striker to ever play the game.
Despite not being the tallest of players, Ronaldo posed a significant threat in the air, in addition to pace, body balance, technique, close control, and an almost unerring shot accuracy.
His finishing ability was second to none, while his exceptional body movement and dribbling ability made him a menace to opposition defenders and goalkeepers, as they never knew what trick he was going to pull out from his stocked sleeve.
Ronaldo's defining moment came in Korea/Japan 2002, where despite just returning from injury, he played a starring role and made amends for the heartbreak from four years earlier to help Brazil to her fifth world title.
His iconic half-moon hairstyle symbolized that he was not fully fit, but regardless, the Rio de Janeiro native weighed in with eight goals to fire his nation to glory.
Unlike most other greats, Ronaldo starred on both the club and international scene, with his best periods coming in the yellow and blue of Brazil, with whom he won numerous titles including the Confederations Cup and Copa America.
He represented some of the biggest clubs in the world in his heydey including Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona, PSV, and AC Milan but surprisingly never got to win the Champions League.
Ronaldo was a child prodigy who started carrying the weight of expectation at a young age. To date, he is the youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or having done so aged just 21 years and three months and also holds the record as the youngest to win the now-defunct FIFA World Best Player award in 1996.
Unfortunately, injuries played a part in denying the footballing world of Ronaldo's best years, but despite his injury-plagued career, his place in the pantheons of the greats is assured.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first Manchester United player in over 40 years to win the Ballon d'Or when he did so in 2008 and this prompted a world-record transfer to Real Madrid a year later.
The Portuguese international had been stellar in his displays for the Red Devils but he took his performance levels to new heights with the LaLiga giants perhaps as a consequence of the direct competition with Lionel Messi in Barcelona.
While there might be plenty of players more naturally talented than him, Cristiano Ronaldo is the go-to when it comes to discipline, hard work, and dedication and he is the quintessential illustration of the maxim that 'hard work beats talent'.
If you need a player to step up to the plate and deliver your team when it matters most, the Madeira native is your man and the number of times he has almost single-handedly lifted his teams from seemingly impossible situations are too numerous, almost bordering on unbelievable.
Having been an above-average goalscorer in the Premier League, Cristiano Ronaldo became a beast in front of goal at Real Madrid and left the club after nine years of optimum performance with a goal ratio of over one per game, which is astonishing considering that he departed the Bernabeu at the age of 33.
He once trailed Lionel Messi 4-1 in the Ballon d'Or race but has shown great tenacity to level things up at five apiece and with there still plenty chapters to write with Juventus and Portugal, we can be certain that there are still more iconic moments to come from Cristiano Ronaldo.
#1 Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011,2012, 2015)
There was never any doubt about the two players who would top this list and the only bone of contention was who among the eternal duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would be ranked highest.
The margins for classification between the pair are so small that settling on a better player is almost impossible and in many ways is down to personal preference.
Lionel Messi is unarguably the best player in Barcelona's history and the recent upsurge in their success over the last decade can be directly traced to the superhuman performance levels of the Argentine maestro.
His skillset has numerous strong points including goalscoring, excellent passing range and accuracy, vision, dribbling, shooting accuracy and when you factor in that Messi has been out-of-this-world with his freekicks of late, it can be argued that he is the greatest in the history of the beautiful game.
Messi became the first player in history to win four consecutive Ballons d'Or in 2012 and in that period, it cannot be argued that he was miles ahead of every other footballer playing.
The one sore point in his career has been his lack of success on the international scene but that takes nothing away from the spectacular career that the Rosario native has had.
Since that magical run between 2009 and 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo has closed the gap on him and Messi has won just one Ballon d'Or, but despite his success, the hunger for more achievement still remains and it would not be a surprise if he adds more personal accolades to his burgeoning collection.
