The Ballon D’or award is one of the most prestigious individual trophies awarded to the player who has had a magnificent season with both club and country. Let’s have a look at the top 5 Ballon d’Or winners with the largest point difference:
#5 Zinedine Zidane- Davor Suker (176 points, 1998) Zidane was in the form of his life this season as he overtook Davor Suker by a massive 176-point lead. The Frenchman won everything that year including the World Cup which made him worthy of the prestigious award.
#4 Lionel Messi- Cristiano Ronaldo (240 points, 2009) The Argentine had an unstoppable season in 2009 as Messi evolved into one of the world’s deadliest attackers in the world under Pep Guardiola. He won the sextuple that year with FC Barcelona and also won the Golden Ball by a massive 240-point gap.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo- Lionel Messi (276 points, 2017) Cristiano Ronaldo scored 42 goals throughout all competitions in the 2016-17 season and also secured his 4th Champions League title with Los Blancos after a dominant season. He also ended Barcelona’s La Liga dominance by winning the league with Madrid for the first time since 2012.
#2 Luka Modric- Cristiano Ronaldo (277 points, 2018) Luka Modric broke the duopoly set by the two G.O.A.T.s of this generation as he became the first and only player to win the Golden Ball in this decade other than Messi and Ronaldo. Modric won the Champions League and carried his team to the World Cup 2018 finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo beat his arch-rival by a big margin in 2016. Ronaldo won the Champions League and also won the UEFA Euros with Portugal in 2016. He won his 4th Ballon d’Or this year.
Another special mention would be Karim Benzema as he is nominated for the 2022 Ballon d’Or award. Benzema had a spectacular season with Real Madrid as the Frenchman won the Champions League as well as the La Liga title. Benzema is set to win the Golden Ball award, and it might be with the largest margins because of no other worthy contender.