The oldest Ballon d'Or winners of all time
- Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d'Or at the ripe old age of 36
- Karim Benzema was 35 when he claimed the gong in 2022
- The first Ballon d'Or winner was also the oldest
Antonio Conte never troubled the individual awards during his playing days but he possessed a winner's mentality like few others. "There is no young and old, only victory or failure," he once claimed.
The prestigious Ballon d'Or, handed out by France Football since 1956, ignores age all the same. Players have been voted the greatest across the globe in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Here are the select individuals that have been able to supercede their peers even after passing their supposed peaks.
10. Pavel Nedved
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 31
Winning year: 2003
The greatest year in the career of the 'Czech Fury' is often remembered as a snub of Thierry Henry but Pavel Nedved almost single-handedly hauled Juventus to the Champions League final in 2003.
Zinedine Zidane's replacement in Turin swung the decisive second legs of the quarter-final and semi-final before picking up a suspension which ruled him out of the showpiece event. In Nedved's absence, Juventus lost a dreadful final to Milan on penalties.
9. Josef Masopust
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 31
Winning year: 1962
As Josef Masopust celebrated his opening goal in the 1962 World Cup final for Czechoslovakia against Brazil, his mind may have skipped ahead to that evening's celebrations. It was his wife's birthday and a joint party had been loosely sketched out.
Yet, long before any candles were lit, Brazil blew out Czechoslovakia's lead. Despite a subdued display from the tournament's star Garrincha - who was suffering from a fever - Brazil ran out as 3-1 victors. In place of the World Cup, Masopust could at least offer his wife the Ballon d'Or as a belated birthday gift.
8. Cristiano Ronaldo
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 32
Winning years: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
Cristiano Ronaldo's maniacal dedication to his physical shape has helped extend his peak well beyond the span of a normal athlete. Even since entering his 30s, he has been a frighteningly regular provider for both club and country.
However, Ronaldo has only been able to win the Ballon d'Or twice after hitting the big three-oh, and has struggled for nominations in the latter days of his career.
7. Fabio Cannavaro
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 33
Winning year: 2006
Fabio Cannavaro had a simple regime to maintain his elite level so late into his career. "Eating well, getting plenty of sleep and having sex - these are all important things." Noted.
The Italian, who won the Ballon d'Or in the same year he guided his country to the World Cup, is the last defender to claim the prize for his monster performances at club level and on the international stage.
6. Luka Modric
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 33
Winning year: 2018
Five short years before he broke Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's stranglehold on the award in 2018, Luka Modric was given a slightly less prestigious individual honour.
Midway through his debut campaign at Real Madrid, a poll in the Spanish publication Marca dubbed Modric and Barcelona's Alex Song as the worst signings in La Liga. Half of that award did not age well.
5. Alfredo Di Stefano
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 33
Winning years: 1957, 1959
"Whatever people have told you about Alfredo Di Stefano, ignore it. It is not enough. However good they say he was, he was better," Juan Santisteban told journalist Sid Lowe in Fear and Loathing in La Liga,
The figurehead of Real Madrid's legendary team that scooped the first five European Cups at the end of the 1950s was rated even higher than Pele by his Brazilian teammate Canario. "They were the best. But Alfredo was more complete. He was the number one."
4. Lev Yashin
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 34
Winning year: 1963
The only goalkeeper to ever win the Ballon d'Or claimed the gong after enduring fierce criticism for his role in the Soviet Union's premature exit from the 1962 World Cup.
Yashin had led Dynamo Moscow to their first league title in four years but the honour was more likely in recognition of his entire career, which supposedly included more than 100 penalty saves.
3. Karim Benzema
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 35
Winning year: 2022
Karim Benzema may be one of the oldest Ballon d'Or winners ever but to achieve all of your life goals at 35 years young is mightily impressive.
Lifting the Ballon d'Or - made even sweeter as Zinedine Zidane, his idol, handed him the award - was the final tick on a list which also included buying his mother a house and joining Real Madrid.
Benzema made no mistake when stepping out of Ronaldo's shadow and into the spotlight.
2. Lionel Messi
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 36
Winning years: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023
At 35, after finishing his debut season at Paris Saint-Germain with six Ligue 1 goals - fewer than 43 players in the French top flight - Messi didn't even make the shortlist for the 2022 Ballon d'Or.
One year later, he led Argentina to World Cup glory and claimed a record-extending eighth golden orb. While Manchester City forward Erling Haaland may have felt harshly treated by a second-place finish, there is sometimes no stopping the force that is Messi.
1. Stanley Matthews
Age at final Ballon d'Or: 41
Winning year: 1956
A yawning 24 years after he made his professional debut, Stanley Matthews won the inaugural Ballon d'Or in 1956.
The ultimate tricky winger felt compelled to extend his playing career until he was 50 after being robbed of his prime years by World War II.
The fact that Blackpool lay claim to a Ballon d'Or winner is pretty neat, too.
READ MORE ON THE 2023 BALLON D'OR NOMINATIONS AND PREDICTED RANKINGS
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