Ballon d’Or: Which African players ever received a vote?

To date, the only African player to ever win the Ballon d’Or, Weah clinched the award in 1995—the first year that the prize was opened to non-European players.

In that year, he defeated Jurgen Klinsmann—in second place—by 144 votes to 108, and would also pick up 13 votes the year afterwards.

Finidi George

One of the players defeated by Weah in 1995, Finidi actually picked up six votes that year—the only occasion when the Nigeria wideman would receive any Ballon d’Or recognition.

This return left him level with Franco Baresi down in joint-21st in the rankings, and ahead of the likes of Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo.

1995 was arguably Finidi’s peak year, as he clinched five titles with Ajax, including the Champions League and the Eredivisie.

Tony Yeboah

A Golden Boot winner in both England and Germany, Yeboah received five votes in 1995 as he made an excellent early impact at Leeds United.

The Ghana international scored 24 goals in his first 40 league appearances in England, and was twice named the Premier League Player of the Month in 1995.

Nwankwo Kanu

A year after Finidi had received his only Ballon d’Or vote, Kanu was also in the running for the prestigious award, having scored 13 goals in 30 Eredivisie matches before securing an ill-fated move to Internazionale.

He received 14 votes in the 1996 Ballon d’Or voting, putting him ahead of the 1995 winner Weah, and above the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Raul and Didier Deschamps.

In 1999, he received two further votes, putting him level with Ronaldo and Hernan Crespo.

Victor Ikpeba

1997 was a year to remember for Ikpeba, the Prince of Monaco, as he became a Ligue 1 winner with the Club of the Principality.

He received two votes in the Ballon d’Or—the only African player to do so—and also won the African Footballer of the Year award.

El-Hadji Diouf & Papa Bouba Diop

2002 was Senegal’s year.

They may have fallen just short in the Africa Cup of Nations, but they followed up their run to the final in that competition by reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup—at the time, only the second African nation to do so.

Diouf and Diop—both on whom received two votes in the Ballon d’Or voting—were among the key figures in those tournaments.

The former, in particular, excelled on the fields of Japan and South Korea, while the latter netted the winner as Senegal defeated reigning world and European champions France 1-0 in the World Cup opener.

Samuel Eto’o

He may have never won a Ballon d’Or, but Eto’o received votes in eight separate years, and was nominated—but received no votes—on two further occasions.

In 2004—the first year in which he picked up points—he received seven votes—and would make the standings every season for the next eight campaigns.

Didier Drogba

Drogba, like his rival Eto’o, also received votes for the first time in 2004, tying with the likes of Frank Lampard and Gianluigi Buffon on five points.

The Ivorian powerhouse—a Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2012—also matched Eto’o in receiving votes in eight years.

Intriguingly, Drogba’s best year was 2007, when he finished fourth behind Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, and not his European Cup-winning campaign.

Michael Essien

Drogba’s Chelsea teammate Essien received votes in two separate years; 2005 and 2007.

2005, of course, was the year when the Bison ended his time in France at Olympique Lyonnais, with a Ligue 1 winner’s medal, before moving to Chelsea where he’d go on to clinch another title in 2006.

In terms of performances, however, perhaps 2006-07 was Essien’s zenith; he was named Chelsea’s Player of the Year, Ghana Player of the Year, and won two domestic cups.

It’s tantalizing to imagine what he could have achieved over the subsequent years had injury not intervened.

Fredi Kanoute

One of Africa’s underrated modern greats, Kanoute received his one and only Ballon d’Or nomination in 2007.

He finished a respectable 11th on the ballot, ahead of former winner Ronaldinho and Steven Gerrard, but with a fraction of the votes of eventual winner Kaka.

This was arguably the Mali international’s finest year, as he won a cup treble with Sevilla and became the first player born outside Africa to win the African Footballer of the Year award.

Emmanuel Adebayor

In 2008, it was the turn of another fine African striker—Adebayor—to receive his one and only Ballon d’Or nomination.

This was the year when the Togo frontman enjoyed the most productive campaign of his career, netting 24 goals in 36 league appearances for Arsenal as they finished third in the top flight and reached the Champions League quarter-finals.

Yaya Toure

Nominated for the Ballon d’Or on five occasions between 2009 and 2015, Yaya established himself as the finest African midfielder of his generation and rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s top stars—in the tier just below Ronaldo and Messi—during his time at Manchester City.

In 2009, while still at Barcelona, Toure secured his only Champions League title—and received his first Ballon d’Or nomination.

Asamoah Gyan

Another African striker whose finest year was rewarded with Ballon d’Or votes.

For Gyan, whose club career has left a lot to be desired, 2010 represented the pinnacle of his career, as he made an unforgettable contribution to Ghana’s World Cup campaign as the Black Stars reached the quarter-finals in South Africa.

Unfortunately, Gyan has never subsequently been able to truly recapture the magic of that summer.

Riyad Mahrez
Algeria’s Mahrez has been included in the Ballon d’Or classement on four separate occasions, including finishing 12th in the ranking this time around.

Unsurprisingly, his highest position came in 2016—the year of Leicester City’s miraculous title-winning campaign—when he came seventh in the ranking, while he was also inside the top 10 in 2019.

Not an undisputed starter for Manchester City this season, and absent from the World Cup, is this the last we’ll see of Mahrez in the Ballon d’Or ranking?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

As Yaya stepped down from the limelight at Manchester City, as Pep Guardiola swept into the Etihad Stadium on a wave of new ideas, Aubameyang stepped into his place as Africa’s pre-eminent global star.

The Gabon international has featured in the Ballon d’Or rankings on three occasions, beginning in 2016, the same year he won the Bundesliga Player of the Year award.

Sadio Mane

The reigning African Footballer of the Year has made little secret of his desire to win the Ballon d’Or, and after finishing fourth on the podium in 2019, he went closer again this year when he finished second – pipped only by Robert Lewandowski.

Mane won the Champions League in 2019, and followed that up with the Premier League title in 2020.

This year, his second-placed finish in the Ballon d’Or was preceded by his influential displays in Senegal’s maiden Africa Cup of Nations success, and he still has the World Cup ahead of him.

Mohamed Salah

Salah has finished inside the top six in the Ballon d’Or rankings in 2018 and 2019, and like Mane, may yet have the chance to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

However, he may never get a better opportunity than in 2018, when he enjoyed a record-breaking maiden season in Liverpool and inspired the Reds to the Champions League final.

Had injury not brought a premature end to that final against Real Madrid—and overshadowed his World Cup—might Salah have finished a little higher in the standings?

He finished seventh in 2021, and fifth again this year.

Kalidou Koulibaly

A regular feature in the Serie A Team of the Season, and the division’s reigning Defender of the Year, Koulibaly made the Ballon d’Or standings in 2019 for the first time.

It was a magnificent achievement for the Napoli centre-back, who became the first African defender ever to receive any votes for the finest individual prize in the game.

Sebastien Haller

Following his goalscoring exploits in the Eredivisie last term, Haller made his debut in the Ballon d’Or rankings this season, finishing in 13th place overall.

The striker netted 21 goals in the top flight and 11 in eight Champions League games, endearing himself to Ajax fans, but illness has prevented him from taking to the field yet this season.

Asisat Oshoala

Oshoala became the first African woman to make the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or Feminin when she finished 16th in the rankings this year.