Ballon d'Or 2026: Every previous winner of the prestigious award including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

Harry Kane has ended a 25-year wait for an English winner of the Ballon d'Or by lifting the 2026 accolade.

The Bayern Munich and England forward scored 73 goals for club and country to edge out Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe

With Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal having lifted the World Cup with Spain, the perception was that either he or Kane would succeed Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele.

Instead, Yamal had to settle for third in front of Spain teammate Rodri and fifth-placed Lionel Messi.

Barcelona took the awards in the majority of the other categories, while there was a surprise accolade for Arsenal's Bukayo Saka, who won the Socrates award.

Here, Sports Mole provides a list of every winner from the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony, as well as every men's champion since the award's inception all the way back in 1956. 

Ballon d'Or 2026 Winners' list

Ballon d'Or

Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/England)

Ballon d'Or Feminin

Alexia Putellas (Barcelona/Spain)

Men's Kopa Trophy

Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain)

Women's Kopa Trophy 

Vicky Lopez (Barcelona/Spain)

Women's Johan Cruyff Trophy

Pere Romeu (Barcelona/Spain)

Men's Johan Cruyff Trophy 

Luis de la Fuente (Spain/Spain)

Men's Yashin Trophy

Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao/Spain)

Women's Yashin Trophy

Cata Coll (Barcelona/Spain)

Men's Club of the Year

Paris Saint-Germain

Women's Club of the Year

Barcelona

Men's Gerd Muller Trophy

Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/England)

Socrates Award

Bukayo Saka

© Imago

All previous Ballon d'Or winners year-by-year

1956: Stanley Matthews

1957: Alfredo Di Stefano

1958: Raymond Kopa

1959: Alfredo Di Stefano

1960: Luis Suarez

1961: Omar Sivori

1962: Josef Masopust

1963 Lev Yashin

1964: Denis Law

1965: Eusebio

1966: Bobby Charlton

1967: Florian Albert

1968: George Best

1969: Gianni Rivera

1970: Gerd Muller

1971: Johan Cruyff

1972: Franz Beckenbauer

1973: Johan Cruyff

1974: Johan Cruyff

1975: Oleh Blokhin

1976: Franz Beckenbauer

1977: Allan Simonsen

1978: Kevin Keegan

1979: Kevin Keegan

1980:Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

1981: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

1982: Paolo Rossi

1983: Michel Platini

1984: Michel Platini

1985: Michel Platini

1986: Igor Belanov

1987: Ruud Gullit

1988: Marco van Basten

1989: Marco van Basten

1990: Lothar Matthaus

1991: Jean-Pierre Papin

1992: Marco van Basten

1993: Roberto Baggio

1994: Hristo Stoichkov

1995: George Weah

1996: Matthias Sammer

1997: Ronaldo

1998: Zinedine Zidane

1999: Rivaldo

2000: Luis Figo

2001: Michael Owen

2002: Ronaldo

2003: Pavel Nedved

2004: Andriy Shevchenko

2005: Ronaldinho

2006: Fabio Cannavaro

2007: Kaka

2008: Cristiano Ronaldo

2009: Lionel Messi

2010: Lionel Messi

2011: Lionel Messi

2012: Lionel Messi

2013: Cristiano Ronaldo

2014: Cristiano Ronaldo

2015: Lionel Messi

2016: Cristiano Ronaldo

2017: Cristiano Ronaldo

2018: Luka Modric

2019: Lionel Messi

2020: Cancelled

2021: Lionel Messi

2022: Karim Benzema

2023: Lionel Messi

2024: Rodri

2025: Ousmane Dembele

2026: Harry Kane