The 2021 Ballon d'Or (French: ''Ballon d'Or'') was the 65th annual ceremony of the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Conceived ...

, presented by ''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

'', recognising the best footballers in the world in 2021. The nominees for the ceremony were announced on 8 October 2021. Right before the ceremony, France Football announced that along with the Men's and Women's Ballon d'Or,

Kopa Trophy The Kopa Trophy is an association football award presented to the best performing player worldwide under the age of 21 during a joint ceremony with the Ballon d'Or. The award is presented by ''France Football'' and is named after late French foot ...

and

Yashin Trophy The Yashin Trophy () is an association football award presented annually by ''France Football'' to the best performing Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. The award is named after former Soviet Union goalkeeper Lev Yashin, and the wi ...

, two new awards would be given: the Best Club and Best Striker of the Year.

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

won the award for a record-extending seventh time after captaining Argentina to the 2021 Copa America, its first senior international title since 1993.

Robert Lewandowski Robert Lewandowski (; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of a ...

finished second following his record-setting 41-goal season in the

2020–21 Bundesliga The 2020–21 Bundesliga was the 58th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 18 September 2020 and concluded on 22 May 2021. The season was originally scheduled to begin on 21 August 2020 and conclude on 15 ...

campaign, and Jorginho finished third after contributing to

2020–21 UEFA Champions League The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Chelsea defea ...

and

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

titles.

Ballon d'Or

The nominees for the awards were announced on 8 October 2021.

Ballon d'Or Féminin

The shortlist for the awards were announced on 8 October 2021.

Kopa Trophy

The nominees for the awards were announced on 8 October 2021.

Yashin Trophy

The nominees for the awards were announced on 8 October 2021.

Striker of the Year

Club of the Year

References

{{Gerd Müller Trophy

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2021 in Paris