Who Is the Youngest Ballon d'Or Winner Ever?

The Ballon d'Or is the ultimate individual prize in world soccer.

Awarded each year to the player judged by top journalists across the globe as the best on the planet over the past season (it used to be based on the calendar year), no other accolade comes close in prestige.

Winners receive, as the name suggests, a gleaming golden ball—an award as iconic as it is symbolic of being on top of the world.

More often than not, the prize is lifted by players in their mid-to-late twenties, those who have been around long enough to master their craft and dominate the game. But every so often, it’s snatched by someone younger—a twinkle-toed prodigy who defies logic by standing head and shoulders above the rest despite his tender age.

So, who is the youngest ever to win the Ballon d’Or?

Who Is the Youngest Ballon d'Or Winner Ever?

The OG Ronaldo. — Ronaldo Nazario was the OG Ronaldo. | Getty/Claudio Villa Archive

The accolade of being the youngest Ballon d'Or winner of all time belongs to Ronaldo Nazário—not Cristiano, but the original Ronaldo.

“O Fenômeno” (The Phenomenon), as he was famously known, scooped the award in 1997 at just 21 years, 3 months and 5 days old, following a quite outrageous debut (and only) season at Barcelona and a blistering start to life at Inter Milan.

During the 1996-97 campaign with Barça, Ronaldo scored an absurd 47 goals in 49 games, firing the club to a treble of trophies: the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa de España, and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. No fewer than 34 of those goals came in La Liga, making him the league’s top scorer by a distance ahead of established stars like Davor Šuker, Raúl, and Rivaldo.

After his world-record move to Inter Milan that summer, Ronaldo continued his hot streak, netting 15 goals before Christmas and cementing his status as the best player on the planet. For Brazil, he was equally prolific, scoring 15 goals in 1997 alone before the Ballon d’Or was awarded.

In the final vote, Ronaldo blew the competition away, racking up 222 points. Second place, Predrag Mijatović, managed just 68.

Other Youngest Ballon d'Or Winners

Ronaldo isn’t the only player to have scooped the Ballon d’Or in his early twenties.

The second-youngest winner of all time was Michael Owen, who claimed the prize in 2001 at just 22 years and 4 days old. The English striker fired Liverpool to a famous cup treble—the League Cup, FA Cup, and UEFA Cup — at the end of the 2000/01 season.

Owen finished as the club’s top scorer with 24 goals in all competitions, including two memorable strikes in the FA Cup final win over Arsenal.

Lionel Messi, meanwhile, lifted the first of his record eight Ballon d’Ors in 2009 at 22 years, 5 months, and 7 days old. Manchester United icon George Best also joined the list of prodigies, winning in 1968 aged 22 years, 7 months, and 2 days, while Soviet striker Oleg Blokhin won the prize in 1975 at 23 years, 1 month, and 25 days.

Cristiano Ronaldo—this time the Portuguese—was a little older, winning his first Ballon d’Or with Manchester United in 2008 at 23 years, 9 months, and 29 days, before going on to collect four more.