The Ballon d’Or 2021 winners brought global football back to Paris on November 29, 2021. France Football handed out the Golden Ball for the first time since 2019. The 2020 ceremony had been cancelled due to COVID-19, a decision that still shadows this edition. Many voters believe Robert Lewandowski was the rightful 2020 recipient. Six awards went out in total. Two new categories also debuted: the Gerd Müller Trophy and Club of the Year. They joined the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or, the Yashin Trophy, and the Kopa Trophy.
Before a single vote was cast, two summer transfer windows had already redrawn the football map. Lionel Messi had left Barcelona under financial duress. He was now a PSG player. Cristiano Ronaldo had returned to Manchester United. The men’s Ballon d’Or 2021 winner would collect the award in a new shirt. He hadn’t worn it when he earned the votes.
How the 2021 Ballon d’Or Voting Worked
France Football runs the Ballon d’Or through a jury of specialized journalists. Each country in the FIFA top 100 sends one representative. In 2021, that jury assessed performance across the full calendar year. France Football didn’t switch to a season-based evaluation until 2022.
Three criteria drove the voting: individual performances, collective achievements (trophies), and overall class across the year. Voters ranked their top five players. First place earned five points; fifth place earned one. The system rewards silverware heavily. That explains why Jorginho finished third. He won the Champions League with Chelsea and Euro 2020 with Italy. He wasn’t the standout performer at either tournament. The trophy count carried him.
Men’s Ballon d’Or 2021 Winner: Lionel Messi
Messi’s seventh. No player in the history of the award, launched by France Football in 1956, had reached that number. Cristiano Ronaldo held five at that point. The gap was now two.
Why Messi Won the 2021 Ballon d’Or
Two peaks defined his calendar year. He finished as La Liga’s top scorer during Barcelona’s 2020-21 campaign. He then won Player of the Tournament and the Golden Boot at Copa América 2021. That tournament ended Argentina’s 28-year wait for a major title. The 1-0 final victory over hosts Brazil in Rio de Janeiro was significant beyond statistics. Voters rewarded the trophy above everything else.
The PSG Factor and the Close Margin
The timing complicated the narrative. By November 29, Messi had been at PSG for three months. His Ligue 1 performances had been uneven. Robert Lewandowski had scored 41 Bundesliga goals in 2020-21, breaking Gerd Müller’s single-season record of 40 set in 1971-72. Many voters argued Lewandowski’s full-year consistency outweighed Messi’s Copa América peak. France Football called it one of the closest races in the award’s modern era.
Luis Suárez, Messi’s former Barcelona and Uruguay international teammate, presented him the award. It added a layer of personal history to the evening.
| Ranking | Player | Club(s) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona / PSG | Argentina |
| 2 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich | Poland |
| 3 | Jorginho | Chelsea | Italy |
| 4 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | France |
| 5 | N’Golo Kanté | Chelsea | France |
| 6 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Juventus / Man United | Portugal |
| 7 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | Egypt |
| 8 | Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City | Belgium |
| 9 | Kylian Mbappé | PSG | France |
| 10 | Gianluigi Donnarumma | Milan / PSG | Italy |
| 11 | Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund | Norway |
| T-12 | Giorgio Chiellini | Juventus | Italy |
| T-12 | Romelu Lukaku | Inter / Chelsea | Belgium |
| 14 | Leonardo Bonucci | Juventus | Italy |
| 15 | Raheem Sterling | Manchester City | England |
| 16 | Neymar | PSG | Brazil |
| T-17 | Simon Kjær | Milan | Denmark |
| T-17 | Luis Suárez | Atlético Madrid | Uruguay |
| T-19 | Riyad Mahrez | Manchester City | Algeria |
| T-19 | Mason Mount | Chelsea | England |
| T-21 | Lautaro MartÃnez | Inter Milan | Argentina |
| T-21 | Bruno Fernandes | Manchester United | Portugal |
| 23 | Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur | England |
| 24 | Pedri | Barcelona | Spain |
| 25 | Phil Foden | Manchester City | England |
| T-26 | Rúben Dias | Manchester City | Portugal |
| T-26 | Nicolò Barella | Inter Milan | Italy |
| T-26 | Gerard Moreno | Villarreal | Spain |
| T-29 | César Azpilicueta | Chelsea | Spain |
| T-29 | Luka Modrić | Real Madrid | Croatia |
Source: France Football official rankings, November 2021
The Lewandowski Debate: Should He Have Won?
FBref records 64 goals and 10 assists for Lewandowski across all competitions in 2021. His 41-goal Bundesliga season broke a record Gerd Müller had held since 1971-72. He reached that figure with a last-gasp goal on the final day against Augsburg.
Lewandowski’s 2021 Trophy Record
Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga, the DFL Supercup, and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2021. City knocked them out of the Champions League semi-finals. That absence almost certainly cost Lewandowski votes. Both Messi and Jorginho had Champions League results on their CVs.
The Special Award France Football Gave Lewandowski
The controversy continued to be a topic of discussion. France Football president Pascal Ferré told the press Lewandowski deserved the 2020 award. He confirmed France Football presented Lewandowski a special award at the ceremony to recognize that lost year. It was meaningful. It was also a consolation prize.
Women’s Ballon d’Or 2021 Winner: Alexia Putellas
Putellas became the third woman to win the Ballon d’Or Féminin since France Football launched the category in 2018, after Norway’s Ada Hegerberg and USA’s Megan Rapinoe. She won with a margin of 102 points over runner-up Jennifer Hermoso, her Barcelona teammate.
Putellas’s 2020-21 Season Stats
Sky Sports confirmed she finished as Europe’s highest-scoring midfielder with 26 goals across all competitions. UEFA records her goal in the Champions League final, a 4-0 win over Chelsea. That night Barcelona lifted Europe’s top women’s prize for the first time in the club’s history. The Primera Iberdrola title and Copa de la Reina completed the treble.
The Individual Treble No One Had Done Before
Putellas claimed the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year, the FIFA Best Women’s Player, and the Ballon d’Or Féminin in the same year. UEFA.com confirms no player had achieved all three simultaneously before her.
She didn’t just score; she dictated games. Playing as a hybrid number eight and false nine, she combined goal output with creative authority across the pitch. Her nickname “La Reina” (The Queen) came from a Copa de la Reina final moment. The RFEF president and a royal sponsor both failed to attend. Her teammates crowned her in the post-match press conference. Nike later used the nickname in official branding after her Ballon d’Or Féminin win.
| Ranking | Player | Club | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexia Putellas | Barcelona | Spain |
| 2 | Jennifer Hermoso | Barcelona | Spain |
| 3 | Sam Kerr | Chelsea | Australia |
| 4 | Vivianne Miedema | Arsenal | Netherlands |
| 5 | Lieke Martens | Barcelona | Netherlands |
| 6 | Christine Sinclair | Portland Thorns | Canada |
| 7 | Pernille Harder | Chelsea | Denmark |
| 8 | Ashley Lawrence | PSG | Canada |
| 9 | Jessie Fleming | Chelsea | Canada |
| 10 | Fran Kirby | Chelsea | England |
Source: France Football official rankings, November 2021
Yashin Trophy 2021 Winner: Gianluigi Donnarumma
France Football launched the Yashin Trophy in 2019. It honors the world’s best goalkeeper annually. The trophy carries Lev Yashin’s name, the Soviet legend and the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or, in 1963. Donnarumma won the second-ever edition.
UEFA voted him Player of the Tournament at Euro 2020, a tournament played in summer 2021. He kept Italy solid throughout their run to the final. His penalty saves in the shootout against England won Italy the trophy. FBref records 21 clean sheets across the calendar year. He was 22.
AC Milan released him on a free transfer that summer. PSG signed him alongside Keylor Navas, creating a goalkeeper controversy that ran all season. It never hurt his international form.
| Ranking | Player | Club | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gianluigi Donnarumma | Milan / PSG | Italy |
| 2 | Édouard Mendy | Chelsea | Senegal |
| 3 | Jan Oblak | Atlético Madrid | Slovenia |
| 4 | Ederson | Manchester City | Brazil |
| 5 | Manuel Neuer | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 6 | Emiliano MartÃnez | Aston Villa | Argentina |
| 7 | Kasper Schmeichel | Leicester City | Denmark |
| T-8 | Keylor Navas | PSG | Costa Rica |
| T-8 | Thibaut Courtois | Real Madrid | Belgium |
| 10 | Samir Handanović | Inter Milan | Slovenia |
Source: France Football official rankings, November 2021
Kopa Trophy 2021 Winner: Pedri
France Football named the Kopa Trophy after their 1958 Ballon d’Or winner Raymond Kopa. It goes to the world’s best male player under 21 each year. Former Ballon d’Or winners still alive cast the votes, a panel that includes Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, and Franz Beckenbauer.
FC Barcelona confirmed Pedri made 52 appearances in 2020-21, more than any other player at the club. Add Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics and the total reached 73 games for the season. No other player in European football’s top divisions matched that figure.
He was 19 at the ceremony. Barcelona paid €5 million to sign him from Las Palmas in 2020. That fee contained add-ons, which are conditional bonus payments triggered by appearances and performance milestones. By October 2021, his renewed contract contained a release clause of €1 billion. A release clause is a pre-agreed fee that allows a player to leave if any club meets the exact figure. The market had recalibrated completely.
His Kopa Trophy came one week after Tuttosport gave him the Golden Boy award. Pedri was the only player in 2021 nominated for the Ballon d’Or, the Golden Boy, and the Kopa Trophy simultaneously. Jude Bellingham finished second. Jamal Musiala is third.
Gerd Müller Trophy 2021 Winner: Robert Lewandowski
France Football introduced the Gerd Müller Trophy at the 2021 ceremony. It recognizes the world’s best striker each year. Gerd Müller, Bayern Munich’s legendary forward and the trophy’s namesake, died in August 2021. He scored 365 Bundesliga goals across his career and held the single-season record for 49 years.
Lewandowski broke that record with a 93rd-minute winner on the final day of the 2020-21 season. He dedicated his acceptance speech to Müller’s memory. FBref puts his 2021 total at 64 goals across all competitions, including international duty with Poland.
Club of the Year 2021 Winner: Chelsea
France Football awarded the Club of the Year based on the combined total of nominations across both the men’s and women’s categories. Chelsea placed five players in the men’s top 30: Jorginho (3rd), Kanté (5th), Mason Mount (19th), Romelu Lukaku (T-12th), and Édouard Mendy (2nd in the Yashin Trophy). Five Chelsea women also earned nominations: Sam Kerr (3rd), Pernille Harder (7th), Jessie Fleming (9th), Fran Kirby (10th), and Magdalena Eriksson (11th).
Thomas Tuchel arrived at Stamford Bridge in January 2021. He steered Chelsea to the Champions League title within five months, defeating Manchester City 1-0 in Porto. The club had gone through three managers in 18 months before he arrived. One tactician brought structural clarity fast.
The 2021 Ballon d’Or in Football History
The Only Ceremony Cancelled Before 2020
The award dates to 1956 and Stanley Matthews’s inaugural win. No previous disruption had cancelled the event entirely. Not the 1966 World Cup season. Not even administrative disputes in the 1990s. The 2020 edition was the first and only complete cancellation in the award’s history.
Ronaldo Out of the Top Three for the First Time Since 2010
Ronaldo placed sixth. He hadn’t finished outside the top three since 2010. The total at that point stood at Messi 7 and Ronaldo 5 in Ballon d’Or wins. That gap would hold. Ronaldo never came close to a sixth.
The Last Calendar-Year Golden Ball
The 2021 ceremony also marked the last time France Football assessed the award on a calendar-year basis. From 2022 onwards, they switched to a season-based evaluation. ESPN confirmed France Football editor-in-chief Pascal Ferré announced the change directly in response to the Lewandowski controversy. The 2021 Golden Ball operates under rules that no longer exist anywhere in the process.
What the 2021 Ballon d’Or Nominees Told Us About the Next Generation
Three nominees in the men’s top 30 were under 23. Pedri was 19. Erling Haaland was 21. Phil Foden was 21. All three posted numbers their older rivals couldn’t match on pure efficiency.
Haaland scored 44 goals across all competitions in 2021. FBref records those figures for Borussia Dortmund before his move to Manchester City the following summer. The DFB-Pokal with Dortmund was his only club silverware that year. Trophy scarcity pushed him to 11th. The voting structure punished him for winning one cup rather than a league or Champions League title.
Foden contributed 16 goals and 14 assists for Manchester City in 2020-21, per FBref. He won the Premier League and the Carabao Cup at 21. City also reached the Champions League final. Where Pedri played 73 games that season, Foden showed the same resilience across a different system. Neither has yet hit their ceiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Ballon d’Or 2021?
Lionel Messi won the men’s Ballon d’Or 2021, his seventh overall. France Football recognized him for guiding Argentina to the Copa América title and for his La Liga performances during his final Barcelona season. The ceremony took place on November 29, 2021, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Who came second in the 2021 Ballon d’Or?
Robert Lewandowski finished second. He scored 41 Bundesliga goals in 2020-21, breaking Gerd Müller’s record that had stood since 1971-72. France Football publicly acknowledged Lewandowski would have won the 2020 award had the ceremony not been cancelled.
Who won the women’s Ballon d’Or in 2021?
Alexia Putellas of Barcelona and Spain won the Ballon d’Or Féminin 2021. She led Barcelona to their first Women’s Champions League title and finished as Europe’s top-scoring midfielder with 26 goals across all competitions. It was the first of her two consecutive Ballon d’Or wins.
Who won the Kopa Trophy in 2021?
Pedri won the Kopa Trophy 2021 at age 19. The Barcelona midfielder played 73 games across club and country that season. Jude Bellingham finished second and Jamal Musiala third.
Who won the Yashin Trophy in 2021?
Gianluigi Donnarumma won the 2021 Yashin Trophy. UEFA voted him Player of the Tournament at Euro 2020. Italy beat England on penalties in the final, with Donnarumma saving twice in the shootout.
Why was there no Ballon d’Or in 2020?
France Football cancelled the 2020 Ballon d’Or due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The disrupted season, with leagues suspended and completed at neutral venues, made fair comparison impossible. Robert Lewandowski scored 55 goals in 2020 for Bayern Munich, including a medal for winning the Champions League. France Football later confirmed he would have won.
The Ballon d’Or 2021 winners list captures a ceremony caught between eras. Messi won it for the seventh time in a shirt he’d worn for three months. Lewandowski lost it on a trophy count rather than a performance argument. And three players under 23, Pedri, Haaland, and Foden, showed the next cycle of dominance was already forming. France Football’s switch to season-based voting from 2022 changed the calculus for good. The 2021 edition was the last Golden Ball under rules France Football had used since 1956.
