Lionel Messi, playing for Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain, became the winner of the Ballon d’Or 2021. He won the trophy for a record seventh time. No one has won this award more than him. The 34-year-old Messi won the award, leaving behind Portugal’s star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski. Messi won this title for a record sixth time in 2019. In 2020, this award show was canceled due to coronavirus. It was restarted this year after a gap of one year.
This award is also special for Messi because this year he had to leave the Spanish club Barcelona, with which he was associated for the last 20 years. In a new football transfer, he reached the French club Paris Saint-Germain this year in August. Messi surpassed potential title holder Robert Lewandowski and 5 times winner Cristiano Ronaldo to win the title again this year.
To brief about the trophy, the Ballon d’Or Awards are given annually by the French football magazine ‘France Football’. This award is given to the best performing player from the club and national team in a year. Stanley Matthews was given this award for the first time in the year 1956 and since then it has been given every year. Awarding to women footballers was also started from 2018. Its 65th edition was held this year.
In the past 13 years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have jointly won the title 12 times, and Luka Modric won the title once for Real Madrid. This is Messi’s 7th title in 13 years, (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021), while on the other hand, Ronaldo has won the award 5 times (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017). Overall, Messi and Ronaldo have shared this title 12 times in the last 13 years. In 2018, Luka Modric of Croatia and Real Madrid won the award.
