The Ballon d'Or has been viewed as the biggest individual prize a football player can win since the award's inception in 1956. The 2023 award ceremony saw Lionel Messi lift the iconic individual award for the eighth time in his long and illustrious career. That win pulled the Argentina legend even further ahead in terms of Ballon d'Or wins, but which nation has produced the most Ballon d'Or winners in history?

Players from 20 different countries have got their hands on the aforementioned prize, although only nine of those nations have produced more than one winner. It also has to be noted that Poland and Norway are very unlucky to miss out on this list due to Robert Lewandowski not being awarded a Ballon d'Or in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the award from happening. The striker was the firm favourite to be the winner for that year after some very impressive displays for Bayern Munich.

The same can be said of Erling Haaland, who missed out on the 2023 Ballon d'Or despite being in sensational goalscoring form as Manchester City won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup to complete a historic treble in 2022/23. Haaland also broke the goal record in the Premier League during his debut campaign in England as he reached 36 goals in only 35 games.

Recent history of the award has been a tale of two players largely, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi having a stranglehold on the Ballon d'Or for the majority of the past two decades. Both men have been at the very top of the game with only four other players having claimed the accolade since 2008. So, we take a look at all the different nations to have a Ballon d'Or winner in the history of the award and rank them from least to most.

20 Northern Ireland - 1

Manchester United legend, George Best, is the only Northern Irish player to have scooped this big honour, with the winger winning the 1968 version of the prize. His incredible displays for the Red Devils helped the side to a European Cup triumph after a 4-1 win over Benfica in the final. Best unfortunately passed away in 2005, but is still fondly remembered as an icon of the sport.

He is one of Man United's best youth products ever, which makes it even sweeter for fans of the Red Devils to have seen Best named the best player on the planet at the time. Northern Ireland are unlikely to produce another Ballon d'Or winner in the near future, leaving Best as the man fans can hang their hat on.

19 Scotland - 1

Another former Man United star to have won a Ballon d'Or is Denis Law. The Scotland international is the only man from his country to win the award despite players such as Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness being rated extremely highly from their playing days. Law scored 237 goals in 404 appearances for the Old Trafford outfit, before returning to rivals, Man City to close out his illustrious career. Law passed away in January 2025, aged 84.

18 Liberia - 1

George Weah won the Ballon d'Or shortly after signing for Italian giants, AC Milan, in 1995, following a very successful spell at Paris Saint-Germain in which he was the top goalscorer in the 1994/95 season of the Champions League with seven goals. The forward beat Jürgen Klinsmann and Jari Litmanen to the prize, with the two players finishing second and third that year respectively.

17 Hungary - 1

Many modern football fans would most likely cast a guess at Ferenc Puskas as the sole Hungarian winner of the Ballon d'Or. After all, the former striker now has a goal of the year award named after him due to his own ability in front of goal. However, it was actually Florian Albert — who spent his entire career playing for Ferencvaros — that claimed the accolade in 1967. He scored 256 league goals in only 351 appearances.

16 Denmark - 1

Despite his side, Borussia Mönchengladbach, eventually losing the European Cup final against Liverpool in 1977, Allan Simonsen was a big part of the European campaign and even scored in that very final on his way to being named the best player in Europe. He won European silverware for the German club and Barcelona in his career.

15 Ukraine - 1

Brazilian icon, Ronaldinho, and former Portuguese midfielder, Deco, both had to settle for podium finishes behind Andriy Shevchenko in 2004 as the AC Milan striker finished as the top scorer in Serie A during the 2003/04 season. He found the net 24 times in only 32 league appearances as his team went on to win the Scudetto and Super Cup.

The years to come were not necessarily as prosperous as Shevchenko missed a vital penalty in the Champions League final loss to Liverpool in 2005, and then went on to have a largely unsuccessful stint at Chelsea in the Premier League. In fact, he went from winning a Ballon d'Or to being viewed as one of the Premier League's biggest flops ever.

14 Czech Republic - 1

Pavel Nedved was actually the second player to have been born in the country of the Czech Republic to win a Ballon d'Or, yet is technically the only player in the history of the country to be crowned the winner. Playing for Juventus at the time, the winger beat Thierry Henry to the individual prize despite the Frenchman performing heroics for Arsenal at the time which just puts into perspective how imperious Nedved was that year.

Henry even gave a brilliant answer when asked about missing out on the Ballon d'Or in 2003. The former Arsenal star said: "You can't debate opinions. When journalists are involved in votes, they vote whatever they want. However, you want to look at it, they vote whatever they want and when you look at the votes in the history of it, not only my year, every year, you look at the first three, and you're like, really? It is what it is. You can't debate opinions."

13 Czechoslovakia - 1

Sepp Blatter (L) congratulates Czech legendary midfielder Josef Masopust on his 80th birthday

In 1962, Czechoslovakia was still a nation and Josef Masopust was the only player to win the award while that was still the case. Masopust was playing for Dukla Prague in his home country at the time of his reception of the prize, and he was also a big part of the Czechoslovakia side that reached the final of the World Cup in 1962, as his side, unfortunately, tasted defeat at the hands of Brazil.

12 Bulgaria - 1

Bulgaria has produced several talented football players over the years, with Dimitar Berbatov likely to stand out in the minds of modern-day Premier League fans. However, very few have ever been considered for a Ballon d'Or in the history of the competition. Hristo Stoichkov did buck that trend in 1994 when playing for Barcelona, as he not only put himself in contention but actually went on to win the whole thing.

11 Croatia - 1

One of the four players previously mentioned to have broken up the dominant era of Ronaldo and Messi is Luka Modric of Croatia. A Champions League success coupled with a World Cup final appearance were huge contributing factors for this win as Modric was absolutely vital for both club and country throughout the year.

It was a refreshing sight to behold with a new name being given their time in the limelight for some commanding performances. For a player to have been voted as the worst La Liga signing of the season in 2011 after his move to Madrid from Tottenham, it has been one of the biggest redemption arcs in football history, surely?