‘Champions League winner should win Ballon d'Or' — How many players have done that?
The 2024-25 season is almost over, and talks about the next Ballon d'Or continue to intensify.
The Golden Ball, first awarded by French magazine France Football in 1956, has become one of the modern metrics to determine the best player of the season.
Talking about who could be the next winner, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo said that it should go to a Champions League winner.
'In my opinion, whoever wins it should be on a team that has won trophies. The Ballon d'Or winner should be in a team that has won the Champions League,' the 40-year-old, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, told reporters before the UEFA Nations League.
ALSO READ: Spain vs France Nations League semifinal not a Ballon d'Or decider, says Yamal
And that raises the question about how many players have actually won the Ballon d'Or after winning the Champions League in the same season.
Following is the list of Ballon d'Or winners and the Champions League winning teams over the years:
How many players have actually won the Ballon d'Or after winning the Champions League in the same season?
On 10 occasions, players have won the Ballon d'Or after winning the Champions League/European Cup the same year. Lionel Messi and Alfredo Di Stefano have done so on multiple occasions.
List of players with a UCL win and a Ballon d'Or the same year:
Alfredo Di Stéfano (1957, 1959)
Raymond Kopa (1958)
Johan Cruyff (1971)
Cristiano Ronaldo (2008)
Lionel Messi (2009, 2011, 2015)
Luka Modrić (2018)
Karim Benzema (2022)
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