10 Essential Ballon d'Or facts that you need to know

The Ballon d'Or awards return this Monday and with that, the whole world will come to know who has been this year's best player.

Ballon d'Or is one of the biggest individual awards in sports and the winner of this award is often seen as the best football player in the world at that moment.

This year, though the usual excitement about the who the winner is going to be is there, some of the players who can be snubbed for the award are also generating a lot of buzz.

For the first time in a decade, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are said to be out of contention for claiming the Golden Ball and the chances are that host David Ginola will be announcing a new winner from the podium in Paris this year.

Whether Ronaldo or Messi claim their sixth Ballon d'Or or a new player is crowned the winner, it is clear that this year's ceremony is going to be a historical one.

So, with that being said, we present to you the 10 must-know facts that you need to know about the history of Ballon d'Or awards.

#1 Lionel Messi has made it into the Top 3 more times than any other player

We all know that Lionel Messi was the first player in history to win the Ballon d'Or 5 times in his career.

He made it into the top 3 of the awards for the first time in 2007 and since then has found himself among the top 3 players at every single edition of the event, taking home the trophy 5 times in the same period.

With 11 top 3 finishes, he has made one extra appearance in the list than Cristiano Ronaldo who missed out on a top 3 spot in 2010.

#2 The first ever Ballon d'Or was won by an English player

Only 4 English players have ever won the coveted trophy, with Michael Owen being the last Englishman to claim the honour in 2001.

But, it might be surprising to know that the inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or was Blackpool's Stanley Matthews.

He was a lethal 'outside-right', a position similar to that of a right-winger in modern football. After he led his side to a second placed finish in the English first division having scored 3 goals in the process, he narrowly defeated Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano 47 to 44 in the poll to claim the European Footballer of the Year Award, as it was known back then.

#3 Barcelona are the most successful club at the Ballon d'Or

FC Barcelona boasts the highest number of Ballon d'Or winners in its ranks.

Players from Barcelona have claimed the Ballon d'Or more times than any other club in the world. As of last year, Barcelona players were named the winners of the award a record 11 times.

Arch-Rivals Real Madrid are right behind Barca in terms of success at the Ballon d'Or, with a Los Blancos player emerging as the winner on 10 occasions so far.

#4 Only one goalkeeper has won the award so far

Lev Yashin is considered as the best goalkeeper in the history of the sport.

Lev Yashin, who is often credited as the player who revolutionized the role of the goalkeeper in modern football, was voted as the Ballon d'Or winner in 1963 ahead of the likes of Eusebio and Jimmy Greaves, who is Tottenham Hotspur's all-time leading goalscorer.

The Black Spider, as he is often referred to, was an imposing figure in the goal and was known for his exceptional reflexes and penalty-saving ability.

France Football, the magazine that hands out the Ballon d'Or every year, wrote this about him, as reported by the BBC:

“Yashin revolutionized the role of goalkeeper like no other before him, by always being ready to act as an extra defender” and by “starting dangerous counter-attacks with his positioning and quick throws”.

#5 George Weah is the only African player to have won the award

To this date, only one African player has claimed the Ballon d'Or. It was George Weah who was voted as the best player in Europe when he was playing for AC Milan.

But, his success at the awards was mainly the result of his great 1994-95 season with PSG, in which he helped them to a domestic double and also ended that season as the top-scorer in the UEFA Champions League.

Not only he's the only African player to win the award, but he also remains the only one to make it into the top 3 in the history of the awards.

#6 Only two youth academies have produced more than one Ballon d'Or winner

Ronaldo and Luis Figo are both Sporting academy graduates. (Image: Bongarts)

Many youth academies are known for producing top-class talents, but when it comes to producing future Ballon d'Or winners, only two clubs are there which can boast of multiple award winners who have graduated through their system. These clubs are River Plate and Sporting CP.

The Sporting youth products Ronaldo and Figo are very well known names in modern football, but the other pair of players who won the Ballon d'Or in its early days might not be very familiar to you.

The duo of Alfredo Di Stefano and Omar Sivori who started their careers with Argentinian side River Plate won the accolade back in the 1960s with Real Madrid and Juventus respectively.

#7 Only thrice has the Top 3 included players from the same club

Iniesta, Messi and Xavi were the top 3 nominees for the 2010 Ballon d'Or

It is sometimes possible that some clubs boast squads that are made up of the best players in the world at that moment, with Real Madrid and their Galacticos being one example, while the Barcelona side that won the treble in 2009 being the other.

And in the Ballon d'Or rankings, the Top 3 had consisted of players from the same club only on three occasions, with AC Milan players dominating the awards in the 1988 and 1989 editions, while Barcelona trio of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi completed the top 3 in 2010.

#8 Only thrice has the Top 3 included players of the same nationality

The top 3 players in the Ballon d'Or voting are regarded as the top 3 players in the world at that given moment, so it is very rare to see players of the same nationality making it into the Top 3.

Thus, it has only happened on three different occasions that the top 3 has included players from the same national side, with three German players in the list in the 1972 edition of the award, again in 1981 and three players from the Netherlands comprising the top 3 in 1988.

#9 Only three defenders have been voted as the winners so far

Fabio Cannavaro was the last defender to win the Golden Ball in 2006 after he won the World Cup with Italy.

Before him, only two other defenders had won the prestigious award, they were Franz Beckenbauer and Matthias Sammer, both of Germany and the former claimed the trophy on two occasions, in 1972 and 1976.

#10 Only 8 Ballon d'Or recipients have won both the World Cup and UEFA Champions League

Zidane has won the World Cup, Champions League and the Ballon d'Or in his illustrious career.

Two of the biggest players at the Ballon d'Or awards are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Both have won the trophy 5 times each, but both of them are yet to win a World Cup with their nations, despite immense success at club level including multiple Champions League triumphs.

Players like Ronaldo Nazario and Cannavaro have won the World Cup, but success in the Champions League had evaded them.

And there are just 8 Ballon d'Or winning players who have won the biggest international competition with their countries and the biggest competition with their club in their careers.

The players are - Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Paolo Rossi, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaká.