Ranking the 4 players to have won the Ballon d'Or with multiple clubs
The Ballon d'Or is the highest accolade a player can win in the sport of football. Since the award's inception in 1955, some of the best players in the game's history have won it. However, only a handful of them - ten to be exact - have won the Ballon d'Or award on multiple occasions.
Fewer still have won the prestigious award with multiple clubs. At the 2021 Ballon d'Or award ceremony, Lionel Messi won a record-extending seventh award. In the process, he joined an exclusive group of players to win Ballon d'Or titles at more than one club.
HERE IS THE WINNER!
SEVEN BALLON D’OR FOR LIONEL MESSI!
#ballondor https://t.co/U2SywJmruC
On that note, here's a look at the quartet who have achieved this rare feat over the years:
#4 Ronaldo Nazario (two-time Ballon d'Or winner)
Ronaldo Nazario is one of the most lethal and skilful strikers in the game's history. If not for nagging injuries and a suspect temperament, he could have achieved a lot more than what he eventually did.
Nevertheless, Ronaldo has won almost every major trophy in club and international football. Only the UEFA Champions League is conspicuous by its absence from his glittering trophy cabinet.
In a blistering 1996-97 campaign for Barcelona - his lone one at the club - Ronaldo scored a club-record 47 goals across competitions. Inter Milan snapped him up on a then world-record $27 million transfer. A few months later, the then 21-year-old became the youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or award.
The Youngest Players to Win the Ballon d’Or in the history of football 🏆⚽️
Will we ever see a player younger than Ronaldo Nazario lift this prestigious award? 🤯 https://t.co/hUDoP5tA4x
Ronaldo scored six goals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where Brazil won their fifth and most recent FIFA World Cup title. He moved to Real Madrid that summer, on another world-record transfer. He scored 30 goals across competitions in his debut campaign in Madrid, winning the La Liga title.
For his extraordinary exploits during the year, especially at the World Cup, Ronaldo won his second Ballon d'Or award. That made him only the second player in history to win the prestigious accolade with two different clubs.