All Ballon d’Or winners from the last two decades ranked

The list of Ballon d'Or winners from the last two decades have been dominated by two players: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

To win the Ballon d'Or, you need to have been the best player on the planet for a calendar year in review.

Over the last 20 years, we've seen some special performances rewarded with the trophy, but some have been better than others.

GOALBALL has delved deeper, got nit-picky and ranked all the winners from the last two decades. We have also gone further to list the Ballon d'Or rankings of all time as well.

All Ballon d'Or winners from the last two decades

Andriy Shevchenko (2004)

The pre-Chelsea Andriy Shevchenko was a dominant striker, and his 24 goals in the 2003/04 season were enough to fire AC Milan to the league title, but…

He was underwhelmed in the Champions League, watching his side implode in the quarter-final in their own ‘Corner Taken Quickly' sort of way, and his Ukraine side didn't even reach Euro 2004.

It was, seemingly, just for his 24 league goals.

Ronaldinho (2005)

In the 2004/2005 season, there was no finer player than FC Barcelona's Brazilian Ronaldinho. Whenever he was on the pitch, he proved why he deserved the Ballon d'Or.

He led Barcelona to La Liga title despite not putting up great numbers that season. At the time, football was not about stats but overall performances on the field of that, and in that season, nobody performed better.

Fabio Cannavaro (2006)

When he led his country to glory at the 2006 World Cup, it always felt like Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio was going to win the Ballon d'Or.

He was hugely impressive at club level with Juventus, who went on to win the 2005/06 Serie A, only to have that honour stripped as a result of the Calciopoli scandal, so a positive year soon turned into a kinda mixed one…

Again, Arsenal hero Henry was a touch unlucky to miss out, as was Barcelona superhero Samuel Eto'o.

Kaká (2007)

2006/07 AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaka is the perfect example of a player who took Europe by storm but maybe didn't do it enough to truly merit top spot on the podium…at least by the standards of the two men who would later usurp him as the world's best.

He was truly superb in the Champions League as AC Milan breezed through the competition en route to glory, but his team were well out of the Serie A title race and were fortunate to snatch a spot in the top four.

He scored ten goals in 13 European games, but then managed just eight in 31 in the league.

Cristiano Ronaldo (2008)

The Copa del Rey is obviously a prestigious trophy, but leading your team to Champions League glory deserves a little more credit, and that's why Cristiano Ronaldo's victory in 2008 sits ahead of 2019 Messi here.

He managed 42 goals that year, leading Manchester United to Europe's biggest prize alongside the Premier League trophy, which is why Real Madrid decided to shatter the transfer record to sign him. That's the ultimate sign of a job well done.

Lionel Messi (2009)

Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or victory in 2009 moved the goalposts. Because of him, any player who wants to win the prize these days effectively has to lead his team to the treble. It's a new standard.

The Argentine's tally of 38 goals and 18 assists was actually quite poor by Messi's ludicrous standards, but it was obviously enough to lead Barcelona to glory in La Liga, the Champions League and Copa del Rey.

Lionel Messi (2010)

Lionel Messi was impressive during the 2009/10 season, but his Ballon d'Or victory will always be shrouded in controversy as many felt Wesley Sneijder. The Dutchman didn't even make the top three, despite dominating as part of José Mourinho's treble-winning Inter side.

There were also plenty of calls for runner-up and World Cup final goalscorer Andres Iniesta to take the award too.

Anyway, back to Messi. He was fantastic in La Liga, firing 34 goals in just 35 outings, but missed out on any other trophies, so seeing him win the Ballon d'Or came as a bit of a surprise. Just a bit though.

Lionel Messi (2011)

Like 2008 Ronaldo, 2011 Barcelona's Argentinian forward also won the league and the Champions League, but the Argentine did so by racking up 53 goals and 24 assists in all competitions.

This was his third consecutive Ballon d'Or victory, so it didn't even come as a surprise anymore. Messi was untouchable and everyone knew it.

Lionel Messi (2012)

2012 Messi was undoubtedly one of the greatest players in the history of football. At club level, he scored 73 goals in one season. Over the entirety of 2012, the Argentine bagged 91 for club and country. 91.

Numbers like that demand individual accolades and nobody could argue. The fact that Barcelona came up short in both the league and in Europe didn't even matter.

If somebody can score 73 goals in one campaign, they win the Ballon d'Or. Even in that suit. Case closed.

Cristiano Ronaldo (2013)

Having sat back and watched Messi's grip on the trophy get stronger with each passing year, Ronaldo knew he had to do something special to wrestle the Ballon d'Or back in 2013. Well, that's exactly what he did.

His Real Madrid side might not have won any trophies, but 55 goals in 55 games spoke for itself. Dominance personified.

Cristiano Ronaldo (2014)

Fifty one (51) goals in 47 games? Check. Champions League title? Check. A record 17 goals in one European campaign? Check.

Ronaldo's 2013/14 campaign was all about the quest to end Madrid's 12-year wait for the Champions League trophy, so he put his side on his back, scored in all but one of his appearances and shattered goalscoring records to get what he wanted.

Lionel Messi (2015)

Trophies for days. Messi's Barcelona won yet another treble in the 2014/15 season (the second of Messi's career), and his form was crucial to that.

Fifty eight (58) goals and 28 assists in just 57 appearances was bonkers and made him a worthy winner that year.

Cristiano Ronaldo (2016)

In 2015/16, Ronaldo managed to average more than one goal per game, but he added the Champions League trophy and Euro 2016 glory this time. His status as the best in the world that year was never in doubt.

He managed three hat-tricks in Europe and a further three in the league, and several of those hauls actually turned into four or five goals. Ronaldo was simply unstoppable.

Cristiano Ronaldo (2017)

Injuries threatened to derail Ronaldo's 2016/17 campaign, but even as he battled various niggling muscular problems, he still led Real to La Liga and Champions League success.

Ronaldo was single-handedly responsible for getting Madrid through each knockout round in the Champions League, bagging the winners all the way from the quarter-final to the final. He looked more like a machine than a human.

Luka Modrić (2018)

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In 2018, it felt as though people were desperate to see Luka Modrić's impressive career rewarded with a Ballon d'Or victory before he started to decline, so anything positive he did was amplified on a global scale.

Leading Croatia to the World Cup final was a huge achievement, and pulling the strings in Real Madrid's midfield as they won the Champions League deserved a lot of credit, but the romantic narrative took over a little bit on this one.

Lionel Messi (2019)

In 2019, we all knew what to expect from Messi. The Argentine is all about goals and trophies, and that's what we got in the 2018/19 campaign.

He ended with 51 goals in 50 appearances, the La Liga title and the Copa del Rey to show for his efforts, but somehow it's not even close to his best campaign.

2020: Cancelled due to the worldwide Covid-19

Lionel Messi (2021)

The 2021 Ballon d'Or ceremony was the 65th edition. Lionel Messi won the award after captaining Argentina to the 2021 Copa America title, it's first senior international title since 1993.

In second-place was Robert Lewandowski who could have won the 2020 edition had the event not cancelled by France Football Magazine as a result of the global pandemic.

Karim Benzema (2022)

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Benzema enjoyed the best year of his club career during the 2021/22 season where he won both La Liga and the Champions League.

His performances in the Champions League won him the Ballon d'Or as the former Marseille marksman was in imperious form, scoring 15 goals in the tournament of which most of them came during the knockout phase.

Benzema's scoring run for Madrid during the knockouts was electricity as Los Blancos breezed past PSG, Chelsea, and Man City before beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final.

Lionel Messi (2023)

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The 2023 Ballon d'Or was the 67th annual award ceremony which recognized the best footballers in the year under review.

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi clinched his 8th Ballon d'Or, the most by any living or dead footballer after guiding Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar where he emerged as the best player.