The last five Ballon d’Or winners from the Premier League

Arsenal won the Premier League in 2025-26 and reached the Champions League final, only to lose to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties. They are favourites to retain their title in the Premier League winner odds, yet their three Ballon d’Or nominees, Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, are long shots for this year’s award. Only three Premier League players have won it since 1992, so the last five winners from English clubs go back to the ’60s.

Rodri, Manchester City, 2024

Rodri won on 28 October 2024 with 1,170 points to the 1,129 of Vinicius Junior, with Jude Bellingham third on 917. He scored eight league goals as City won a fourth straight title in 2023-24, then was named player of the tournament as Spain won Euro 2024. His run of 50 unbeaten Premier League games was second only to the 56 of Sol Campbell.

His goal had also beaten Inter 1-0 in the 2023 Champions League final, giving City their first European Cup. He went off with a hamstring injury at half time of the Euro 2024 final, then ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament against Arsenal on 22 September 2024, five weeks before he collected the award.

He was the first Premier League player to win since 2008. His move to Barcelona on 18 August 2026 means the league no longer has a Ballon d’Or winner in it.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United, 2008

Cristiano Ronaldo took 446 points, ahead of Lionel Messi on 281 and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres in third on 179. His 31 league goals in 2007-08 equalled Alan Shearer’s record for a 38-game season, and he scored 42 in all competitions.

He headed United in front in the Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow, which finished 1-1. Petr Cech then saved his kick in the shootout, and United were rescued when John Terry slipped and hit the post. They won it 6-5.

Ronaldo also won the FIFA World Player of the Year award that season. He was the club’s first Ballon d’Or winner since 1968, and the first of his five.

Michael Owen, Liverpool, 2001

Michael Owen was 21 when he beat Raul by 176 points to 140, with Oliver Kahn of Bayern Munich third. Liverpool won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2000-01, and his two late goals turned the FA Cup final into a 2-1 win over Arsenal.

Owen was the fourth English winner after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton and Kevin Keegan. He was also the first Liverpool player to win it. No English player has won it since.

His strongest case came in the year’s second half. On 1 September 2001 he scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Germany in Munich, where the Germans had not lost since 1973.

George Best, Manchester United, 1968

George Best won with 61 points, and his team-mate Charlton was second on 53. He scored 28 First Division goals in 1967-68 and was also named Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.

Best was 22 when he scored in the 4-1 extra-time win over Benfica at Wembley that made United the first English club to win the European Cup. The trophy came 10 years after the Munich air disaster, which Charlton survived.

Bobby Charlton, Manchester United, 1966

Charlton won the closest vote on this list, 81 points to the 80 of Eusebio, in the year he won the World Cup with England. His two goals beat Portugal 2-1 in the semi-final at Wembley, where Eusebio scored a late penalty. Denis Law had won it for United in 1964, which made it three winners from Old Trafford in five years.

What it means for 2026

Rodri, the last Premier League winner, needed a title and a European Championship in the same year. This time Harry Kane of Bayern Munich and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona head the betting, and Kane would be the first English winner since Owen.

Ballon d’Or prices sit alongside the rest of the football betting markets until the winner is named at the London Palladium on 26 October.