World Player of the Year

Nation
—
Editions recorded
36

Editions

Season Rank Winner Club Nation Age Recorded value
2017 1 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 32 —
2017 2 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 30 —
2017 3 Neymar Paris Saint-Germain Brazil 25 —
2016 1 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 31 —
2016 2 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 29 —
2016 3 Antoine Griezmann A. Madrid France 25 —
2015 1 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 28 —
2015 2 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 30 —
2015 3 Neymar Barcelona Brazil 23 —
2014 1 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 29 —
2014 2 Manuel Peter Neuer FC Bayern München Germany 28 —
2014 3 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 27 —
2013 1 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 28 —
2013 2 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 26 —
2013 3 Franck Henry Pierre Ribéry FC Bayern München France 30 —
2012 1 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 25 47
2012 2 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 27 19
2012 3 Andres Iniesta Barcelona Spain 28 10
2011 1 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 24 60
2011 2 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro R. Madrid Portugal 26 10
2011 3 Xavi Barcelona Spain 31 8
2010 1 Xavi Barcelona Spain 30 26
2010 2 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 23 24
2010 3 Wesley Benjamin Sneijder FC Internazionale Milano Holland 26 17
2009 1 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 22 43
2009 2 Andres Iniesta Barcelona Spain 25 21
2009 3 Xavi Barcelona Spain 29 11
2008 1 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro Manchester United Portugal 23 48
2008 2 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 21 15
2008 3 Fernando Torres Liverpool Spain 24 14
2007 1 Kaká A.C. Milan Brazil 25 53
2007 2 Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini Barcelona Argentina 20 18
2007 3 Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro Manchester United Portugal 22 16
2006 1 Fabio Mamerto Cannavaro R. Madrid Italy 33 40
2006 2 Samuel Eto'o Fils Barcelona Cameroon 25 13
2006 3 Thierry Daniel Henry Arsenal France 29 12
2005 1 Ronaldinho Barcelona Brazil 25 39
2005 2 Steven George Gerrard Liverpool England 25 13
2005 3 Frank James Lampard Jr. Chelsea England 27 12
2004 1 Ronaldinho Barcelona Brazil 24 29
2004 2 Thierry Daniel Henry Arsenal France 27 22
2004 3 Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych A.C. Milan Ukraine 28 13
2003 1 Pavel Nedved Juventus Czech Republic 31 36
2003 2 Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij Manchester United Holland 27 10
2003 3 Raúl R. Madrid Spain 26 9
2002 1 Ronaldo FC Internazionale Milano Brazil 26 26
2002 2 Michael Ballack FC Bayern München Germany 26 18
2002 3 Roberto Carlos R. Madrid Brazil 29 8
2001 1 Michael Owen Liverpool England 22 31
2001 2 David Robert Joseph Beckham Manchester United England 26 16
2001 3 Raúl R. Madrid Spain 24 12
2000 1 Figo Barcelona Portugal 28 26
2000 2 Zinedine Yazid Zidane Juventus France 28 21
2000 3 Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych A.C. Milan Ukraine 24 10
1999 1 Rivaldo Barcelona Brazil 27 42
1999 2 David Robert Joseph Beckham Manchester United England 24 27
1999 3 Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych A.C. Milan Ukraine 23 9
1998 1 Zinedine Yazid Zidane Juventus France 26 23
1998 2 Michael Owen Liverpool England 19 10
1998 3 Ronaldo FC Internazionale Milano Brazil 22 9
1997 1 Ronaldo FC Internazionale Milano Brazil 21 27
1997 2 Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp Arsenal Holland 28 12
1997 3 Gianfranco Zola Chelsea Italy 31 7
1996 1 Ronaldo Barcelona Brazil 20 17
1996 2 Alan Shearer Newcastle United England 26 15
1996 3 George Weah A.C. Milan Liberia 30 14
1995 1 Gianluca Vialli Juventus Italy 31 18
1995 2 Alessandro Del Piero Juventus Italy 21 9
1995 3 Jürgen Klinsmann FC Bayern München Germany 31 8
1994 1 Paolo Cesare Maldini A.C. Milan Italy 26 27
1994 2 Roberto Baggio Juventus Italy 27 23
1994 3 Romário Barcelona Brazil 28 14
1993 1 Roberto Baggio Juventus Italy 26 13
1993 2 Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp FC Internazionale Milano Holland 24 11
1993 3 Ruud Gullit Sampdoria Holland 31 9
1992 1 Marcel van Basten A.C. Milan Holland 28 18
1992 2 Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp AFC Ajax Holland 23 13
1992 3 Peter Schmeichel Manchester United Denmark 29 11
1991 1 Jean-Pierre Papin Olympique de Marseille France 28 25
1991 2 Robert Prosinecki R. Madrid Yugoslavia 22 15
1991 3 Darko Pancev FC Red Star Belgrade Yugoslavia 26 15
1990 1 Lothar Herbert Matthäus FC Internazionale Milano West Germany 29 21
1990 2 Salvatore Schillaci Juventus Italy 26 12
1990 3 Diego Armando Maradona Napoli Argentina 30 6
1989 1 Ruud Gullit A.C. Milan Holland 27 24
1989 2 Marcel van Basten A.C. Milan Holland 25 18
1989 3 Bebeto Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama Brazil 25 10
1988 1 Marcel van Basten A.C. Milan Holland 24 43
1988 2 Ruud Gullit A.C. Milan Holland 26 21
1988 3 Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard A.C. Milan Holland 26 7
1987 1 Ruud Gullit A.C. Milan Holland 25 38
1987 2 Diego Armando Maradona Napoli Argentina 27 13
1987 3 Marcel van Basten A.C. Milan Holland 23 8
1986 1 Diego Armando Maradona Napoli Argentina 26 35
1986 2 Igor Belanov Dynamo Kyiv Soviet Union — 6
1986 3 Gary Lineker Barcelona England — 5
1985 1 Michel Platini Juventus France 30 20
1985 2 Preben Elkjær Hellas Verona Denmark 28 11
1985 3 Diego Armando Maradona Napoli Argentina 25 7
1984 1 Michel Platini Juventus France 29 54
1984 2 Ian Rush Liverpool Wales 23 9
1984 3 Zico Udinese Brazil 31 7
1983 1 Zico Udinese Brazil 30 28
1983 2 Michel Platini Juventus France 28 24
1983 3 Falcão AS Roma Brazil 30 18
1982 1 Paolo Rossi Juventus Italy — 23
1982 2 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge FC Bayern München Germany 27 14
1982 3 Falcão AS Roma Brazil 29 12

Newest edition first. Only the columns these editions actually fill are shown. Recorded value is award_history_winner.value exactly as stored, and what it counts depends on the award — goals for a top-scorer award, votes or points elsewhere. The export gives it no unit, so none is invented here. position_mask and info2 are also stored against each winner and are deliberately not shown: the first is a bitmask whose bit order does not match the position lookup, and the second is populated for under two percent of rows with no recorded meaning. Both are reported as unmapped rather than guessed at.