Every Player to Finish Top 3 in Ballon d'Or History

Data collected via Wikipedia.

Between the years 1956-1995 the award was only available to European players so was widely known as the European Football of the Year (hence why South American players such as Pele and Maradona don't appear). This was changed in 1995 to include all players currently playing in Europe and was again expanded in 2007 to include any player from around the globe.

From 1956-2006 the award was specifically voted for by football journalists. In 2008, coaches and captains of the National Teams were given a chance to vote but this was limited in 2022 to include only countries within the Top 100 of the FIFA Rankings.

The points total is decided based on the votes whereby each voter had to pick their rankings and each position they picked were assigned points. The same is true when the points were broadcast as percentages instead. If players are tied on the same points this is represented in the table.