Ballon d'Or: Full list of men's award winners from 1956 to 2020

Ahead of the 2021 Ballon d'Or awards in Paris on Monday, here's a look at all the men's award winners from 1956 to 2020.

Lionel Messi with the trophy of the Golden Ball when he won the Ballon d'Or for sixth time in 2019. (FILE PHOTO)

Ballon d’Or is an annual award, presented by the French magazine France Football , regarded as the most prestigious individual honour in the sport.

The elite accolade was presented for the first time in 1956 and the tradition has been continued ever since. England's Stanley Matthews was the first-ever recipient of the award. Lionel Messi won the award for a record seventh time in 2021 after France Football scrapped the honours in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

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Here's a look at the full list of men's Ballon d'Or winners since 1956:

Year / Player / (Club) 1956:  Stanley Matthews (Blackpool) 1957:  Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid) 1958:  Raymond Kopa (Real Madrid) 1959:  Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid) 1960:  Luis Suarez (Barcelona) 1961:  Omar Sivori (Juventus) 1962:  Josef Masopust (Dukla Prague) 1963:  Lev Yashin (Dynamo Moscow) 1964:  Denis Law (Manchester United) 1965:  Eusebio (Benfica) 1966:  Bobby Charlton (Manchester United) 1967:  Florian Albert (Ferencvaros) 1968:  George Best (Manchester United) 1969:  Gianni Rivera (AC Milan) 1970:  Gerd Muller (Bayern Munich) 1971:  Johan Cruyff (Ajax) 1972:  Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich) 1973:  Johan Cruyff (Barcelona) 1974:  Johan Cruyff (Barcelona) 1975:  Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv) 1976:  Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich) 1977:  Allan Simonsen (Borussia Monchengladbach) 1978:  Kevin Keegan (Hamburg) 1979:  Kevin Keegan (Hamburg) 1980:  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich) 1981:  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich) 1982:  Paolo Rossi (Juventus) 1983:  Michel Platini (Juventus) 1984:  Michel Platini (Juventus) 1985:  Michel Platini (Juventus) 1986:  Igor Belanov (Dynamo Kyiv) 1987:  Ruud Gullit (AC Milan) 1988:  Marco van Basten (AC Milan) 1989:  Marco van Basten (AC Milan) 1990:  Lothar Matthaus (Internazionale) 1991:  Jean-Pierre Papin (Marseille) 1992:  Marco van Basten (AC Milan) 1993:  Roberto Baggio (Juventus) 1994:  Hristo Stoichkov (Barcelona) 1995:  George Weah (AC Milan) 1996:  Matthias Sammer (Borussia Dortmund) 1997:  Ronaldo (Internazionale) 1998:  Zinedine Zidane (Juventus) 1999:  Rivaldo (Barcelona) 2000:  Luis Figo (Real Madrid) 2001:  Michael Owen (Liverpool) 2002:  Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 2003:  Pavel Nedved (Juventus) 2004:  Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan) 2005:  Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 2006:  Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid) 2007:  Kaka (Milan) 2008:  Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) 2009:  Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 2010:  Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 2011:  Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 2012:  Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 2013:  Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 2014:  Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 2015:  Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 2016:  Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 2017:  Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 2018:  Luka Modric (Real Madrid) 2019: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 2020: Cancelled 2021: Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)