The football clubs with the most Ballon d’Or wins are Real Madrid and Barcelona, level on 12 each. Juventus and AC Milan follow with eight apiece, then Bayern Munich with five and Manchester United with four. Paris Saint-Germain has three.
The ranking credits each award to the club the winner represented when he won it. A player who later moves on does not carry the trophy with him.
The men’s Ballon d’Or has been presented since 1956. The 2020 edition was cancelled, leaving 70 awarded editions through 2025.
Ballon d’Or Winners by Club: The Full Ranking
| Rank | Club | Ballon d’Or Wins | Different Winners | Winning Players |
| 1= | Real Madrid | 12 | 8 | Di Stéfano, Kopa, Figo, Ronaldo Nazário, Cannavaro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Modrić, Benzema |
| 1= | Barcelona | 12 | 6 | Suárez, Cruyff, Stoichkov, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Messi |
| 3= | Juventus | 8 | 6 | SĂvori, Rossi, Platini, Baggio, Zidane, NedvÄ›d |
| 3= | AC Milan | 8 | 6 | Rivera, Gullit, Van Basten, Weah, Shevchenko, Kaká |
| 5 | Bayern Munich | 5 | 3 | MĂĽller, Beckenbauer, Rummenigge |
| 6 | Manchester United | 4 | 4 | Law, Charlton, Best, Cristiano Ronaldo |
| 7= | Paris Saint-Germain | 2 | 2 | Messi, Dembélé |
| 7= | Inter Milan | 2 | 2 | Matthäus, Ronaldo Nazário |
| 7= | Dynamo Kyiv | 2 | 2 | Blokhin, Belanov |
| 7= | Hamburger SV | 2 | 1 | Keegan |
| 11–22 | Ajax, Benfica, Blackpool, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Dukla Praha, Dynamo Moscow, Ferencváros, Liverpool, Olympique de Marseille, Inter Miami, Manchester City | 1 each | 1 each | See list below |
These 22 clubs account for all 70 awarded men’s Ballon d’Or editions through 2025.
Which Clubs Have Won the Most Ballon d’Or Awards?
Four clubs stand clear of the rest. Two of them have won the award in every era since the 1950s.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid’s 12 awards came from eight different players.
- Alfredo Di Stéfano won in 1957 and 1959.
- Raymond Kopa won in 1958.
- LuĂs Figo won in 2000.
- Ronaldo Nazário won in 2002.
- Fabio Cannavaro won in 2006.
- Cristiano Ronaldo won in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
- Luka Modrić won in 2018.
- Karim Benzema won in 2022.
Three of the first four awards in the club’s history went to Real Madrid players. The modern total was built by Ronaldo, who supplied four of the 12.
Some lists show Real Madrid on 13 by including Zidane’s 1998 award. Under this method, it belongs to Juventus because Zidane represented Juventus when he won it.
Ronaldo’s 2008 award belongs to Manchester United. Ronaldo Nazário’s 1997 award belongs to Inter Milan.
Barcelona
Barcelona also has 12 awards, spread across six players.
- Luis Suárez won in 1960.
- Johan Cruyff won in 1973 and 1974.
- Hristo Stoichkov won in 1994.
- Rivaldo won in 1999.
- Ronaldinho won in 2005.
- Lionel Messi won in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
Messi accounts for half the total. His 2021 award belongs to Paris Saint-Germain and his 2023 award belongs to Inter Miami.
Without those two, the gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid would be wider. With them correctly assigned, the two clubs are level.
Juventus
Juventus has eight awards from six players.
- Omar SĂvori won in 1961.
- Paolo Rossi won in 1982.
- Michel Platini won in 1983, 1984 and 1985.
- Roberto Baggio won in 1993.
- Zinedine Zidane won in 1998.
Pavel Nedvěd won in 2003.
Platini’s three consecutive awards remain Juventus’ longest run by one player. Lionel Messi holds the overall record, winning four straight for Barcelona from 2009 through 2012.
Zidane’s 1998 award sits here because he was a Juventus player that year. It followed a World Cup won on home soil with France.
AC Milan
Milan also has eight, from six different winners.
- Gianni Rivera won in 1969.
- Ruud Gullit won in 1987.
- Marco van Basten won in 1988, 1989 and 1992.
- George Weah won in 1995.
- Andriy Shevchenko won in 2004.
- Kaká won in 2007.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were the club’s richest period. Gullit and Van Basten won four of the five awards between 1987 and 1992, and Weah added a fifth in 1995.
Bayern Munich
Bayern has five awards from three players.
- Gerd MĂĽller won in 1970.
- Franz Beckenbauer won in 1972 and 1976.
- Karl-Heinz Rummenigge won in 1980 and 1981.
All five came within a twelve-year span. Bayern has not had a winner since.
Manchester United
United has four awards, each from a different player.
- Denis Law won in 1964.
- Bobby Charlton won in 1966.
- George Best won in 1968.
- Cristiano Ronaldo won in 2008.
Three of the four arrived within five years in the 1960s. For more on the club’s winners, see our guide to Manchester United’s Ballon d’Or winners.
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain has three Ballon d’Or awards from two different players.
- Lionel Messi won in 2021
- Ousmane Dembélé won in 2025.
Dembélé became the club’s second men’s Ballon d’Or winner when he was awarded the 2025 prize in September 2025.
Clubs With Multiple Ballon d’Or Winners
Total wins and different winners measure two separate things. Total wins counts every award a club has collected. Different winners counts how many individual players have won while representing it.
A club with one dominant player can have many wins and few winners. Hamburger SV shows this: Kevin Keegan won in both 1978 and 1979, so two wins came from one man.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are tied on 12 total wins, but Real Madrid has produced more different winners, with eight compared with Barcelona’s six.
| Club | Different Winners | Total Wins |
| Real Madrid | 8 | 12 |
| Barcelona | 6 | 12 |
| Juventus | 6 | 8 |
| AC Milan | 6 | 8 |
| Bayern Munich | 3 | 5 |
| Manchester United | 4 | 4 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 2 | 2 |
| Inter Milan | 2 | 2 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2 | 2 |
| Hamburger SV | 1 | 2 |
Manchester United is the only club in the top six where every win came from a different player.
Clubs With One Ballon d’Or Win
Twelve clubs have produced exactly one awarded edition.
| Club | Winning Player | Year |
| Blackpool | Stanley Matthews | 1956 |
| Dukla Praha | Josef Masopust | 1962 |
| Dynamo Moscow | Lev Yashin | 1963 |
| Benfica | Eusébio | 1965 |
| Ferencváros | Flórián Albert | 1967 |
| Ajax | Johan Cruyff | 1971 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | Allan Simonsen | 1977 |
| Marseille | Jean-Pierre Papin | 1991 |
| Borussia Dortmund | Matthias Sammer | 1996 |
| Liverpool | Michael Owen | 2001 |
| Inter Miami | Lionel Messi | 2023 |
| Manchester City | Rodri | 2024 |
Together these twelve clubs account for 12 of the 70 awarded men’s Ballon d’Or editions. Yashin remains the only goalkeeper to have won the award.
Messi and Ronaldo: How Their Ballon d’Or Wins Are Split by Club
Two players account for 13 of the 69 awards. Their wins are spread across five clubs, which is why club totals differ from player totals.
| Player | Club | Wins |
| Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 6 |
| Lionel Messi | Paris Saint-Germain | 1 |
| Lionel Messi | Inter Miami | 1 |
| Messi total | 8 | |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | 1 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 4 |
| Ronaldo total | 5 |
Messi’s eight awards appear on three different club records. Ronaldo’s five appear on two.
For the full record of each player, see our pages on Messi’s Ballon d’Or wins and Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or wins.
Ballon d’Or Winners Who Won for More Than One Club
Four players have won the award while representing more than one club.
- Johan Cruyff: Ajax (1971), Barcelona (1973, 1974)
- Ronaldo Nazário: Inter Milan (1997), Real Madrid (2002)
- Cristiano Ronaldo: Manchester United (2008), Real Madrid (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017)
- Lionel Messi: Barcelona (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019), PSG (2021), Inter Miami (2023)
These four account for a large share of the record. They are the reason player totals and club totals cannot be matched one to one.
Our Ballon d’Or winners list gives the club beside every name.
Which Era Produced the Most Club Ballon d’Or Winners?
Real Madrid dominated the late 1950s through Di Stéfano and Kopa. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and AC Milan built strong records across the following decades. Manchester United recorded four wins between 1964 and 2008.
The Messi era at Barcelona produced six awards between 2009 and 2019. The Ronaldo era at Real Madrid produced four between 2013 and 2017.
More recent winners have represented Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Inter Miami and Manchester City, with PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé winning in 2025.
How We Counted Ballon d’Or Wins by Club
This ranking credits each Ballon d’Or to the club the winner represented when the award was presented. It does not credit a player to every club he played for during his career.
The 2020 men’s Ballon d’Or was not awarded, so there are 70 awarded editions from 1956 through 2025.
Club attribution follows the year-by-year winners list published by UEFA.
Different websites publish different club totals because they use different methods. Some credit a player to a club based on where he spent the most time, and others credit him to the club he joined afterward.
Those figures are not mixed here. This article covers the men’s Ballon d’Or only. It excludes the women’s award, the Kopa Trophy, the Yashin Trophy, FIFA World Player of the Year and The Best FIFA Men’s Player.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which football club has won the most Ballon d’Or awards?
Real Madrid and Barcelona are level on 12 each under the club-at-award-year method.
How many Ballon d’Or awards has Real Madrid won?
Real Madrid has 12, from eight different players.
How many Ballon d’Or awards has Barcelona won?
Barcelona has 12, from six different players. Messi won six of them.
Which club has produced the most different Ballon d’Or winners?
Real Madrid has eight different winners.
How many Ballon d’Or awards has Manchester United won?
Manchester United has four: Law (1964), Charlton (1966), Best (1968) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2008).
Which club has won the Ballon d’Or most times through different players?
Real Madrid, through eight players. Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan each have six.
Which club did Cristiano Ronaldo represent when he won the Ballon d’Or?
He won with Manchester United in 2008 and with Real Madrid in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Which club did Lionel Messi represent when he won the Ballon d’Or?
He won with Barcelona six times, with PSG in 2021 and with Inter Miami in 2023.
How many Ballon d’Or awards has Paris Saint-Germain won?
Paris Saint-Germain has won two men’s Ballon d’Or awards: Lionel Messi in 2021 and Ousmane Dembélé in 2025.
Conclusion
Real Madrid and Barcelona have won the most men’s Ballon d’Or awards by club, with 12 each across the 70 awarded editions through 2025. Juventus and AC Milan follow on eight, then Bayern Munich on five and Manchester United on four.
Real Madrid has also produced the most different winners, with eight. That gives the club a broader spread of winners than Barcelona, whose 12 awards include six from Lionel Messi.
The complete year-by-year history, with the club beside every winner, is in our Ballon d’Or winners list.
