FIFA Best Player of the Year List All Time (Since 1991)

Who has won more FIFA Best Player Award? Who has more FIFA awards, Messi or Ronaldo? How many times has Ronaldo won FIFA Best Player? How many FIFA world players of the year has Messi won? Also, How many FIFA best has Messi won? Who is nominated for FIFA Best Player 2024? GoalTheBall reveals the FIFA Player of the Year winners list for all time along with history and most winners.

FIFA Best Player List History

FIFA started presenting the world’s best football player of every year since 1991. Initially, the governing body branded it as the FIFA World Player of the Year. Coaches and captains of international teams as well as the media journalists used to select the ultimate winner. The award used to be given at the FIFA World Player Gala. However, FIFA signed a 6-year deal with France Football to merge the award with the Ballon d’Or. The merged award named The “FIFA Ballon d’Or”. The 2 governing bodies collaborated and presented it from 2010 to 2015. However, as the contract ended before 2016, they didn’t renew. Yet again FIFA introduced their very own “The Best FIFA Men’s Player” award. From 2016 onwards it’s the official FIFA award for the year’s best footballer on the planet.

FIFA Player of the Year List All Time

Lothar Matthäus achieved the honor of being the first-ever player to win it. Romário was the foremost non-European to grab it. George Weah not only became the first-ever from the African continent but also still remains the only African to do so. After the introduction of the FIFA Ballon d’Or, Messi lifted the award during the maiden edition. On the other hand, his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA The Best as the first male footballer.

FIFA Best Player Most Wins

Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario dominated during the “FIFA World Player of the Year” era. Each of them won the award on 3 occasions. Ronaldinho is the other player to win the very same award more than once. Both Messi (2009) and Ronaldo (2008) won it once. The Argentine sensation ran riot during the FIFA Ballon d’Or era. He pocketed the prize 4 times including a hat-trick. CR7 grabbed the other 2. Ronaldo made a great start during the “The Best FIFA Men’s Player” award era. He won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. Messi’s first during this era came in 2019 but eventually went on to win 2 more to become the most winner of this award as well. Robert Lewandowski also won this award twice. Luka Modric too lifted it once.

Overall, Messi won FIFA’s Best Player of the Year award on 8 occasions, the most by any footballer ever. Cristiano Ronaldo had this honor on 5 occasions. Generally, viewers need to move to different articles to find the winners. That’s why GoalTheBall merged all FIFA yearly awards within one single content for the convenience of the readers.