The official Ballon d’Or account recently addressed one of football’s most persistent debates: must a player win the Champions League to claim the sport’s top individual prize? Their answer was blunt: “Do you have to win the Champions League to win the trophy? The answer is no.”
That statement lands at a perfect time. Voting for the 2026 Ballon d’Or closed at the end of September, and the 70th-edition ceremony takes place on 26 October at London’s Palladium Theatre. With names like Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane in the conversation, fans are once again asking whether club success in Europe should decide the winner.
The Numbers Tell a Clear Story
Across 69 editions of the Ballon d’Or (1956–2025, excluding the cancelled 2020 award), only 21 winners also lifted the European Cup or Champions League in the same season. That is just 30.4 percent.
In other words, 69.6 percent of Ballon d’Or winners did not win Europe’s premier club competition that year. The Champions League can influence voters, but history shows it has never been a requirement.
The 21 Players Who Did Both
These players completed the rare double of winning the European Cup/Champions League and the Ballon d’Or in the same year:
- 1957 & 1959: Alfredo Di Stéfano (Real Madrid)
- 1958: Raymond Kopa (Real Madrid)
- 1968: George Best (Manchester United)
- 1969: Gianni Rivera (AC Milan)
- 1971 & 1973: Johan Cruyff (Ajax)
- 1976: Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich)
- 1985: Michel Platini (Juventus)
- 1989: Marco van Basten (AC Milan)
- 2007: Kaká (AC Milan)
- 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
- 2009, 2011 & 2015: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
- 2014, 2016 & 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
- 2018: Luka Modrić (Real Madrid)
- 2022: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
- 2025: Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain)
Dembélé’s 2025 win is the most recent example of the double. He helped PSG claim their first Champions League title and then took the individual award ahead of Lamine Yamal.
Famous Winners Who Didn’t Need the Champions League
Plenty of legendary names won the Ballon d’Or without that particular trophy in the same season. Notable examples include:
- Ronaldo Nazário (1997, 2002)
- Michael Owen (2001)
- Pavel Nedvěd (2003)
- Ronaldinho (2005)
- Fabio Cannavaro (2006, after Italy’s World Cup win)
- Lionel Messi (2010, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2023)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (2013)
- Rodri (2024)
Rodri’s 2024 victory is especially relevant. Manchester City did not win the Champions League that season (Real Madrid did), yet his performances for club and country, including Spain’s Euros triumph, were enough.
How the Award Is Actually Decided
France Football’s official voting criteria list three factors in order of importance:
- Individual performances and decisive impact
- Team performances and trophies won
- Class and fair play
Team success, including the Champions League, sits in second place. The primary test remains whether a player was the most outstanding individual of the season. That official ranking explains why so many winners have succeeded without Europe’s top club prize.
What This Means for the 2026 Race
The 2026 ceremony marks the award’s 70th anniversary and its first time in London, a nod to inaugural winner Stanley Matthews. With the World Cup also on the horizon, voters will weigh domestic form, international performances, and club trophies.
Winning the Champions League still helps — it raises a player’s profile and demonstrates success at the highest level. But the historical record and the official criteria both show it is not mandatory. A standout individual campaign, even without that particular medal, can still deliver the golden ball.
The data is consistent across seven decades: the Ballon d’Or rewards the best player of the season, not simply the player on the best team in Europe.