While waiting for today's awards ceremony at 19:30 Lithuanian time, where the best footballer of 2015 and the symbolic eleventh will be announced, we suggest remembering the previous winners of the Golden Ball.
Lionel Messi - favorite to surpass Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo and win his fifth trophy. Both the Argentine himself and his club "Barcelona" have been mentioned next to "Ballon d'Or" most frequently throughout history.
Members of "Blaugranos" have become the best players in the world 10 times. Representing the Catalans, the laureates in the past were the shining star of the 70s Luis Suarez, who won the Golden Ball twice, Johann Cruyff, Hristo Stoichkov, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho each won once. Four prizes belong to Lionel Messi.
A slight step behind, Turin's "Juventus" from 1983-1985 led to glory three-time greatest footballer Michel Platini, while in AC Milan's ranks from 1987, the fashion was dictated by the Dutchmen Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten, who won three titles together, and even Real Madrid stands out with three "Ballon d'Or" trophies in their cabinet, held by this evening's nominee Ronaldo.
Looking at the nationalities of past winners, Germany and the Netherlands are at the top of the list, followed closely by the French.
In the ranks of German football gems were Gerd Mueller, Franz Beckenbauer, twice Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthaus and Matthias Sammer, but after the latter's triumph in 1996, Germans have not become the best players on the planet.
In the Dutch ranks, on the other hand, only three mentioned footballers excel. Cruyff and Van Basten celebrated the Golden Ball three times, while Ruud Gullit won it once.
It is also interesting to look at the distribution by positions, where the dominance of forwards and just one goalkeeper immediately catches the eye.
In 1963, the winner of the "Ballon d'Or" voting was the Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin, and in the defense category, Franz Beckenbauer celebrated this prize twice, as did the Italian Fabio Cannavaro who led the triumph in the 2006 World Cup.
