Ballon d'Or: Who is the youngest player to have won the trophy? | OneFootball

Ronaldo, the youngest player ever to win the Ballon d'Or

Ronaldo/@Inter

On September 22, 2025, all eyes will be on the Ballon d'Or ceremony, which will honor the world's best footballer of 2025.

In the meantime, Foot Africa brings you the story of the youngest player ever to claim this prestigious trophy—a record for precocity held by the Brazilian Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima.

The Brazilian superstar was crowned in 1997, at just 21 years, 3 months, and 5 days old. At the time, he was playing for Barça, having transferred that summer to Inter Milan. He would repeat the feat five years later (in 2002), the same year Brazil lifted the World Cup and he moved from Inter Milan to Real Madrid.

He outshines England’s George Best (22 years, 7 months, and 2 days in 1968) and Ukraine’s Oleg Blokhin, the Dynamo Kyiv legend (23 years, 1 month, and 25 days in 1975).

As for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two most decorated players, they claimed the trophy at 22 years, 5 months, and 7 days (in 2009) and 23 years, 9 months, and 27 days (in 2008), respectively.

Is Ronaldo’s record in danger? Indeed, if a certain Lamine Yamal is crowned, he would become the youngest ever to touch football’s holy grail—at just 18 years old.