Who are the players who have won the most Ballon d'Ors in history?

Karim Benzema: next Ballon d'Or?

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(CNN Spanish) -

We are at the gates of the Ballon d'Or 2022. This Monday we will meet the winner of the 66th edition of this award, which is awarded by

magazine .

Of the 30 nominees for this year's award, Karim Benzema is one of those with the best chance of winning it, as he was instrumental in Real Madrid winning their 14th Champions League and LaLiga.

Meanwhile, of the 20 nominees for the women's award, several candidacies stand out, including that of Alexia Putellas, winner of the award in 2021 and who in January won FIFA's The Best award for player of the year.

However, the 2022 Ballon d'Or will be atypical, as it is the first time in 17 years that Lionel Messi, the top winner in the history of this award, is not on the final list of 30 nominees.

• Messi out of the fight for the Ballon d'Or for the first time in 17 years

In addition to Messi, who are among the most successful players of this award?

The top winners of the Ballon d'Or

Next, we present you the most Ballon d'Or winners, according to data from UEFA.

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The foregoing leaves both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the two most important players of the 21st century so far.

Who else have won Ballon d'Or this century?

In the following list you can see all the winners since the year 2000.

• 2021: Lionel Messi

• 2019: Lionel Messi

• 2018: Luka Modric

• 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2015: Lionel Messi

• 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2013: Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2012: Lionel Messi

• 2011: Lionel Messi

• 2010: Lionel Messi

• 2009: Lionel Messi

• 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2007: Kaka

• 2006: Fabio Cannavaro

• 2005: Ronaldinho

• 2004: Andriy Shevchenko

• 2003: Pavel Nedved

• 2002: Ronaldo

• 2001: Michael Owen

• 2000: Luis Figo

Women's Ballon d'Or

magazine

handed out the Women's Ballon d'Or award was in 2018, when Norwegian star Ada Hegerberg was chosen as the winner.

(For context, the men's award has been handed out since 1956.)

Since then, the winners have been:

• 2019: Megan Rapinoe (USA)

• 2020: the prize was not awarded due to the covid-19 pandemic

• 2021: Alexia Putellas (Spain)

Golden Ball