To celebrate Lionel Messi’s 37th birthday, Sports Mole challenges you to name all 10 players who have won the Ballon d’Or more than once.
The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious individual prize in world football, awarded to the best player on the planet every year.
Since Stanley Matthews picked up the first award in 1956, only 10 players have won the prize on more than one occasion.
While each of those players has a special place in history and can boast the accolade of having been the world’s best footballer in at least two separate years, one man stands head and shoulders above the rest in the history of the award.
Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or an incredible eight times throughout his legendary career and is the current holder of the award too, having beaten Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to the accolade last year.
Now plying his trade for Inter Miami in MLS, Messi’s exploits in helping Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in 2022 were enough for him to extend his lead in the all-time list over second place, meaning that he now has three more Ballons d’Or than anyone else.
Only the 41-year-old inaugural winner Matthews has ever won the award at an older age, and it is not out of the question that the Argentine icon could still add to his tally.
Today marks Messi’s 37th birthday, and to celebrate we are challenging you to name the other nine players to have won the Ballon d’Or more than once.