UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award
The UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award is an association football award given to the footballer playing for a men's football club in Europe that is considered the best in the previous season of both club and national team competition. The award, created in 2011 by UEFA in partnership with European Sports Media (ESM) group, was initially aimed at reviving the European Footballer of the Year Award, which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or. It also replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.
2023 winner Erling Haaland
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the most UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award in history, with three.
Lionel Messi is the only non-European player to win the award and one of the two players to win it more than once.
Karim Benzema won the award with a record number of points.
The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award presented by French news magazine France Football since 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season.
Ballon d'Or trophy
Gianni Rivera hoisting the 1969 Ballon d'Or.
Lionel Messi has won the most Ballons d'Or in history, with eight wins in three different decades. He is also the record holder for most consecutive wins, with four between 2009 and 2012.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or a record eighteen times, and is a five-time winner.