GOAL reported that a statistical study by Santi García Cremades, cited from Marca, reordered Ballon d'Or history by cumulative points from vote positions across 69 editions from 1956 to 2025, excluding 2020 when the award was not presented. The study covered 2,099 player records across 213 clubs and 66 countries or nationalities.
The P30 system
In the study, Santi García Cremades converted players' positions in the annual Ballon d'Or vote into cumulative points and devised a system named P30. Under that system, first place earns 30 points, second 29, third 28, and so on.
Individual standings
GOAL reported that Cristiano Ronaldo ranked first in the individual points table with 460 points and Lionel Messi was second. Messi won the Ballon d'Or eight times, three more than Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi reached the podium 14 times and Cristiano Ronaldo 12 times. Messi averaged 28.125 points per participation and Ronaldo 25.556.
Club and nationality rankings
Real Madrid topped the club ranking with 3,189 points, ahead of Barcelona on 2,717. Juventus were third with 2,059, followed by Bayern Munich on 2,027 and Milan on 1,829. Behind them came Manchester United with 1,636, Inter Milan with 1,362, Liverpool with 1,098, Ajax with 734 and Manchester City with 719.
Germany led the nationalities ranking with 3,854 points, ahead of Italy on 3,229, France on 2,976, England on 2,821 and Spain on 2,551. Cristiano Ronaldo represents 29.9% of Portugal's total historical points and Messi accounts for 44.5% of Argentina's total points.
Breakdowns by period
Between 1956 and 1959, Real Madrid led the club ranking for that period with 260.5 points. Manchester United led the 1960s with 389 points, Bayern Munich led the 1970s with 541 points, Juventus led the 1980s with 452 points, and Milan led the 1990s with 494 points. Barcelona led 2010 to 2019 with 930 points, and Real Madrid led between 2021 and 2025 with 378 points.
Among nationalities, Hungary topped the opening phase, Italy dominated the 1960s, Germany the 1970s and 1980s, Italy the 1990s, Brazil the first decade of the second millennium with 758 points, Spain 2010 to 2019 with 625, and France the most recent period with 302 points. Eusébio contributed 53.8% of Benfica's total points in the history of the Ballon d'Or. Thierry Henry contributed 31.6% of Arsenal's total points, Kylian Mbappé 24.7% of Paris Saint-Germain's tally, Kevin De Bruyne 21.1% of Manchester City's tally, and Bobby Charlton 12.7% of Manchester United's total points. Real Madrid's most influential player did not exceed 8.2% of the club's total and Juventus's most influential player did not exceed 8.1%.