who has won the most ballon d'ors ever
Ballon d'Or Stanley Matthews of Blackpool was the inaugural winner of the Ballon d'Or.[4] Prior to 1995, the award was often known in English language media as the European Footballer of the Year award. Milan's George Weah, the only African recipient, became the first non-European to win the award in the year the rules of eligibility were changed.[2] Ronaldo of Internazionale became the first South American winner two years later.[2] Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the award a record five times. Three players have won the award three times each: Johan Cruyff of Ajax and Barcelona, Michel Platini of Juventus and Marco van Basten of Milan. With seven awards each, Dutch and German players won the most Ballons d'Or. Spanish club Barcelona has the most winners, with 11 wins.[5]
FIFA Ballon d'Or The winners of the FIFA Ballon d'Or are chosen by international journalists and the coaches and captains of the national teams under FIFA's jurisdiction.[3] In a system based on positional voting, each voter was allotted three votes, worth five points, three points and one point, and the three finalists were ordered based on total number of points. Voters were provided with a shortlist of 23 players from which they could select the three players they deemed to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.[8]