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#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
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.
