26/07/2026
Can a player win a Ballon d’Or without winning a single team trophy during the season?
Here’s what the Ballon d’Or account says
Yes, it has happened before, but not that often! Stanley Matthews, the first Ballon d'Or winner in 1956, is also the first to have won it without having claimed a team title during the calendar year (the Ballon d'Or has been decided on the sporting season since 2022).
Six cases, the last in 2013
Denis Law matched him in 1964, as did Gerd Müller in 1970. The German had scored 10 goals at the World Cup that year, but his team only finished 3rd. Kevin Keegan, in 1978, then Luis Figo, in 2000, also managed to win the most prestigious individual title despite a trophyless season.
The last to pull off such a feat? Cristiano Ronaldo, in 2013. It's therefore been 11 editions since this last happened. On the women's side, it has never happened since the trophy was created in 2018.
