The Ballon d'Or is an annual award presented by the French sports magazine, France Football, the award is given to the top soccer player in the world for the calendar year. The award which has been won by Lionel Messi a record seven times now, making him the only Argentine to win the award. The Argentine is followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with 5, Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff, and Marco van Basten are tied with three.
Barcelona is the club who has the most winners with 6 players taking home 12 Ballon d'Or’s. Real Madrid comes in second with 7 players having won 11 awards, followed by Juventus and AC Milan with 6 players taking home 8 awards.
This year the prestigious award was decided between Lionel Messi of PSG, Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich, and Karim Benzema of Real Madrid, in which Lionel Messi won his 7th Ballon d'Or in 2021!
Lionel Messi wins 2021 Ballon d'Or
The 34-year-old Argentine made his highly publicized move to PSG in the summer of 2021, before that in Barcelona the silky attacking player won the Copa del Rey and later won the Copa America with Argentina.
In total Messi scored 41 goals and had 17 assists in 2021. This Ballon d'Or marks the seventh honor bestowed upon Messi, who won it back in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, and now 2021.
Messi, who obtained more votes, finished first ahead of Robert Lewandowski, Jorginho, who finished a surprise third ahead of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kanté, and Cristiano Ronaldo who came in sixth.
