1956 Stanley Matthews 1957 Alfredo Di Stéfano 1958 Raymond Kopa 1959 Alfredo Di Stéfano 1960 Luis Suárez 1961 Omar Sivori 1962 Josef Masopust 1963 Lev Yachine 1964 Denis Law 1965 Eusébio 1966 Bobby Charlton 1967 Flórián Albert 1968 George Best 1969 Gianni Rivera 1970 Gerd Müller 1971 Johan Cruyff 1972 Franz Beckenbauer 1973 Johan Cruyff 1974 Johan Cruyff 1975 Oleg Blokhine 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 Matthäus 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 Chevtchenko 2005 Ronaldinho 2006 Fabio Cannavaro 2007 Kaká 2008 Cristiano Ronaldo 2009 Lionel Messi 2010 Lionel Messi 2011 Lionel Messi2012 Lionel Messi