Messi, Rodri, Sammer: the five tightest Ballon d'Or wins | OneFootball

With this year's Ballon d'Or race set to be fierce, history shows winners have sometimes edged it by a single point. L'Équipe highlights the five closest finishes.

1996, Matthias Sammer pipped Ronaldo by the narrowest margin, 144 to 143, a gap of 0.13%. Sammer arrived as European champion and Bundesliga winner, while Ronaldo was on course for the European Golden Shoe with Barcelona.

In 2019, Lionel Messi edged Virgil van Dijk 686 to 679, 24.36% to 24.11%, a 0.25% split. Liverpool had won the Champions League against Tottenham 2-0 and finished Premier League runners-up, while Messi was La Liga champion and top scorer.

Back in 1966, Bobby Charlton beat Eusebio 81 to 80, a 0.30% difference from 22 voters. England’s World Cup winner was not even named by the English juror, who chose Ball, Moore and Hurst. Eusebio, Portugal’s bronze medallist and World Cup top scorer with nine, missed the chance to join Alfredo Di Stefano as a two-time winner.

In 1972, Franz Beckenbauer collected 81 points to Gerd Müller and Günter Netzer’s 79 as West Germany, European champions against the USSR 3-0, swept the podium. Johan Cruyff was fourth on 73, placed first three times and second nine times.

In 2024, Rodri topped a Real Madrid-heavy ballot, 1,170 points and 17.64% to Vinicius Jr’s 1,129 and 17.02%, a 0.62% edge. Madrid won La Liga with one defeat and the Champions League, placing Jude Bellingham third and Dani Carvajal fourth. Manchester City’s title winner and European champion with Spain, Rodri will collect the trophy on crutches after a right-knee ACL rupture in September.

Source: L'Équipe

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