FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Award Winners Full List Of All Time

FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Award Winners Full List Of All Time

Know about the all-time winners list of the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball

Every FIFA World Cup final tournament concludes with the presentation of multiple honours to the players and teams who excelled in various facets of the game.

The 1982 FIFA World Cup, which was sponsored by Adidas and France Football, saw the debut of the present trophy.

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FIFA World Cup Golden Ball Award Winners List Of All Time

The inaugural Golden Ball for best player was presented in 1982; today, there are five post-tournament awards from the FIFA Technical Study Group. The Golden Ball is now known commercially as the “adidas Golden Ball.”

At each FIFA World Cup finals, the best player receives the Golden Ball award; the winner is chosen by media representatives from a shortlist created by the FIFA technical committee (Technical Study Group). The Silver Ball and Bronze Ball prizes, which recognise the second and third most excellent players in the competition, go to the runners-up in the voting.

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World CupGolden BallSilver BallBronze Ball
1982 SpainItaly Paolo RossiBrazil FalcãoWest Germany Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
1986 MexicoArgentina Diego MaradonaWest Germany Harald SchumacherDenmark Preben Elkjær
1990 ItalyItaly Salvatore SchillaciWest Germany Lothar MatthäusArgentina Diego Maradona
1994 United StatesBrazil RomárioItaly Roberto BaggioBulgaria Hristo Stoichkov
1998 FranceBrazil RonaldoCroatia Davor ŠukerFrance Lilian Thuram
2002 South Korea/JapanGermany Oliver KahnBrazil RonaldoSouth Korea Hong Myung-bo
2006 GermanyFrance Zinedine ZidaneItaly Fabio CannavaroItaly Andrea Pirlo
2010 South AfricaUruguay Diego ForlánNetherlands Wesley SneijderSpain David Villa
2014 BrazilArgentina Lionel MessiGermany Thomas MüllerNetherlands Arjen Robben
2018 RussiaCroatia Luka ModrićBelgium Eden HazardFrance Antoine Griezmann

Meanwhile, the last winner of the Golden Ball, Croatia’s captain and star for Real Madrid, Luka Modric, will travel to Qatar in an effort to become the first player to win the Golden Ball back to back. In each of the past 10 competitions, Fifa has recognised the best player, but nobody has yet been able to effectively defend the title. Furthermore, no one has ever won the Golden Ball twice. Only Argentina, Brazil, and Italy can boast of having had two recipients of the honour.

The players eligible for each World Cup’s Golden Ball are chosen by the Fifa technical committee. The winner of the award, as well as those who receive the Silver and Bronze Balls for coming in second and third, are then decided by a vote among media representatives.

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