Has an African Player Ever Won the Ballon d’Or?

The Ballon d’Or was first awarded in 1956, with English legend Sir Stanley Matthews the first recipient. Over the decades the format and nature of the award have changed several times. In its earliest years, it was generally known as the European Footballer of the Year Award. At this time, and indeed approximately the first 40 years of its existence, it was only open to European players.

This initially expanded to encompass footballers at European clubs, before becoming a truly global accolade in 2007. In recent times it has been dominated by a Portuguese footballer and another from Argentina, two players who genuinely need no introduction, in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo (five wins) and Lionel Messi (eight). Indeed, over the years, up to and including the 2023 prize, it has been won by players from 20 different nations.

That includes those no longer in existence, such as the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, as well as England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. France is the most successful nation in terms of separate individuals to have claimed the Ballon d’Or, whilst Messi single-handedly puts Argentina top of the pile in terms of actual wins. All of which is fine and good but the question at hand is whether or not an African footballer has ever won the game’s greatest individual honour.

Liberian Boy

There have been several winners from Europe, including two for Kevin Keegan, the only English footballer to win this prize more than once. Messi is Argentina’s only winner but four Brazilians, including Ronaldo (two successes), add five more wins to the South American tally. Thus far no player from North America, Asia or Oceania has ever claimed the Ballon d’Or but there has indeed been a winner from Africa.

The legendary Liberian striker George Weah is the only African footballer to have won the Ballon d’Or. He took this huge honour in 1995, the first when the prize was opened up to players of any nationality plying their trade in Europe.

Weah was the star of the strong AC Milan side of the time, having joined the club in 1995 after enjoying much success with PSG. With the Parisians, he won the league, two French Cups, plus the league cup, whilst before that he had excelled at Monaco.

It was Arsene Wenger who brought him to European football, signing the man born George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah in the Liberian capital of Monrovia in 1966. That was a good year for football indeed. Weah joined Wenger’s Monaco in 1988 for just £12,000 and the following year was named African Footballer of the Year. He helped the club reach the final of the 1991/91 European Cup Winners’ Cup and netted 66 goals in 149 games for the club.

Clearly a Generational Talent

At Monaco it was obvious that Weah was an exceptional footballer and he made the step up to PSG look easy. He played 45 times for them in 1992/93 and scored 23 goals, enjoying two more good seasons with them before getting his move to Milan.

The Italians paid around €7m for Weah, a massive fee at the time, and he soon delivered. The club won Serie A in 1995/96 and again in 1998/99, Weah again being crowned African Footballer of the Year in 1995 when he won the Ballon d’Or. Many other individual honours and accolades came at this time, including the FIFA World Player of the Year Crown, with Weah the top scorer in the 1994/95 Champions League.

Style of Play

Weah was a great goalscorer but also a scorer of great goals. His strike against Hellas Verona in 1996 is one of the all-time great solo goals. It perfectly illustrates the strengths of Weah’s game too as it exhibits pace, strength, determination and brilliant finishing.

His 58 goals in 147 games with Milan may not look particularly exceptional to those used to seeing Erling Haaland plundering goals in the Premier League, or looking at the stats of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. However, at that time, it was very difficult to score in Italian football, with defence generally on top. Moreover, he was not always used as a pure number nine, and his brilliant dribbling abilities meant he created many chances for his team, as well as scoring.

As the only African to win the Ballon d’Or he is an obvious pick for the greatest African footballer ever, and many consider him to be the greatest player never to win the Champions League (obviously excluding the likes of Pele and others who never played in it).

Life After Football

During his career, which took in brief stints at Chelsea and Manchester City, Weah was always committed to humanitarian causes. When he retired after 19 games with Marseille, in 2001 (with 193 career goals from 478 games), he increased his efforts in this area.

Weah did a lot of work with the UN and used football to help improve lives. In 2005 he helped establish a new political party in Liberia and ran for President. He narrowly failed, critics citing his lack of education, but he then studied in the US, obtaining a degree in business administration. He continued with his political ambitions and in 2017 was elected as President of his nation, a role he continued to fulfil until January 2024 (he lost the 2023 election to Joseph Boakai).

Weah has four children, two of whom signed for PSG, with one – Timothy – going on to have a successful career. Born in Brooklyn, Timothy has 41 caps for the USA, scored at the 2022 World Cup, and currently plays for Juventus.

Any Other Africans on the Podium?

George Weah remains the only African to have ever won the Ballon d’Or, although the legendary Portuguese footballer Eusebio did win it in 1965. Eusebio was also second twice and although he played for Portugal, he was born in modern-day Mozambique.

However, more recently an African-born player who plays his international football on the continent did finish as runner-up. In 2022 Sadio Mane, then of Bayern Munich, came second to Real Madrid’s French ace Karim Benzema and ahead of Kevin De Bruyne in third.

Mane had helped Senegal win the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021 and was named Player of the Tournament. He also won African Footballer of the Year in 2022, adding to the trophy he claimed in 2019, whilst he has also been named in the Confederation of African Football Team of the Year on five occasions.