Ballon d’Or winners and the top 10 players from 2000 to 2018, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and M

The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious individual award in world football.

Prior to Luka Modric winning last year’s gong, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s global dominance saw the pair win the previous 10 between them (five each).

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Looking ahead to this year’s awards ceremony, Messi is primed to pick up a sixth title ahead of Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutchman has become an integral part of Jurgen Klopp’s side since his move from Southampton in January 2018, helping them to win a sixth Champions League crown.

He was, however, pipped to the FIFA Best Men’s Player accolade by the Barcelona star in September, with the same result expected again this time around.

Judged by a panel of journalists, the Ballon d’Or ran in conjunction with FIFA from 2010 until 2015, when the governing body split to create its own – and much less prestigious – Best Player award.

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But what was the football world like before Ronaldo and Messi took over? That’s what talkSPORT.com is looking at, stretching back to 2000.

It’s also interesting to see who made it into voters’ lists of the top ten footballers in the world from every year since the turn of the millennium.

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Ballon d’Or 2000

1. Luis Figo (Barcelona and Real Madrid)

2. Zinedine Zidane (Juventus)

3. Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)

4. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

5. Alessandro Nesta (Lazio)

6. Rivaldo (Barcelona)

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7. Gabriel Batistuta (Roma)

8. Gaizka Mendieta (Valencia)

9. Raul (Real Madrid)

10: Paolo Maldini (AC Milan)

10: David Beckham (Manchester United)

Ballon d’Or 2001

1. Michael Owen (Liverpool)

2. Raul (Real Madrid)

3. Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich)

4. David Beckham (Manchester United)

5. Francesco Totti (Roma)

6. Luis Figo (Real Madrid)

7. Rivaldo (Barcelona)

8. Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)

9. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

10. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)

Ballon d’Or 2002

1. Ronaldo (Inter Milan and Real Madrid)

2. Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid)

3. Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich)

4. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)

5. Michael Ballack (Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich)

6. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

7. Raul (Real Madrid)

8. Rivaldo (Barcelona and AC Milan)

9. Yildiray Basturk (Bayer Leverkusen)

10. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus)

Ballon d’Or 2003

1. Pavel Nedved (Juventus)

2. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

3. Paolo Maldini (AC Milan)

4. Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)

5. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)

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6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United)

7. Raul (Real Madrid)

8. Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid)

9. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

10. David Beckham (Manchester United and Real Madrid)

Ballon d’Or 2004

1. Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)

2. Deco (Porto and Barcelona)

3. Ronaldinho (Barcelona)

4. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

5. Theodoros Zagorakis (AEK Athens and Bologna)

6. Adriano (Parma and Inter Milan)

7. Pavel Naved (Juventus)

8. Wayne Rooney (Everton and Manchester United)

9. Ricardo Carvalho (Porto and Chelsea)

10. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United)

Ballon d’Or 2005

1. Ronaldinho (Barcelona)

2. Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

3. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

4. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

5. Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)

6. Paolo Maldini (AC Milan)

7. Adriano (Inter Milan)

8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus)

9. Kaka (AC Milan)

10: Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona)

10: John Terry (Chelsea)

Ballon d’Or 2006

1. Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus and Real Madrid)

2. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

3. Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

4. Ronaldinho (Barcelona)

5. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)

6. Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona)

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7. Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen)

8. Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

9. Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

10. Jens Lehmann (Arsenal)

Ballon d’Or 2007

1. Kaka (AC Milan)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

4. Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

5. Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid)

7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan)

8. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

9. Robinho (Real Madrid)

10. Francesco Totti (Roma)

Ballon d’Or 2008

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

3. Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

4. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

5. Xavi (Barcelona)

6. Andrey Arshavin (Zenit Saint Petersburg)

7. David Villa (Valencia)

8. Kaka (AC Milan)

9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan)

10. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

Ballon d’Or 2009

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Real Madrid)

3. Xavi (Barcelona)

4. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

5. Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona)

6. Kaka (AC Milan and Real Madrid)

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7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan and Barcelona)

8. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

9. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

10. Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Ballon d’Or 2010

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

2. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

3. Xavi (Barcelona)

4. Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan)

5. Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid)

6. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

7. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

8. David Villa (Valencia and Barcelona)

9. Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

10. Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)

Ballon d’Or 2011

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

3. Xavi (Barcelona)

4. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

5. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

6. Luis Suarez (Ajax and Liverpool)

7. Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan)

8. Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan and Anzhi Makhachkala)

9. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

10. Neymar (Santos)

Ballon d’Or 2012

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

3. Xavi (Barcelona)

4. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

5. Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)

6. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

7. Andrea Pirlo (Juventus)

8. Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Atletico Madrid)

9. Robin van Persie (Arsenal and Manchester United)

10. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain)

Ballon d’Or 2013

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

3. Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain)

5. Neymar (Santos and Barcelona)

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6. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

7. Robin van Persie (Manchester United)

8. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

9. Gareth Bale (Tottenham and Real Madrid)

10. Andrea Pirlo (Juventus)

Ballon d’Or 2014

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

3. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)

4. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

5. Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)

6. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

7. Neymar (Barcelona)

8. James Rodriguez (Monaco and Real Madrid)

9. Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich and Real Madrid)

10. Angel di Maria (Real Madrid and Manchester United)

Ballon d’Or 2015

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

3. Neymar (Barcelona)

4. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

5. Paul Pogba (Juventus)

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6. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

7. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)

8. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

9. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

10. Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)

Ballon d’Or 2016

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

3. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)

4. Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

5. Neymar (Barcelona)

6. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)

7. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)

8. Jamie Vardy (Leicester)

9: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

9: Pepe (Real Madrid)

Ballon d’Or 2017

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

3. Neymar (Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain)

4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

5. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

6. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

7. Kylian Mbappe (Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain)

8. N’Golo Kante (Chelsea)

9. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

10. Harry Kane (Tottenham)

Ballon d’Or 2018

1. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)

3. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)

4. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

5. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

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6. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

7. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)

8. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

9. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)

10. Harry Kane (Tottenham)

And 2019?

In October, the 30-man shortlist was revealed by France Football and L’Equipe.

Sergio Aguero (Man City and Argentina)

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool and England)

Alisson Becker (Liverpool and Brazil)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal and Gabon)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and France)

Bernardo Silva (Man City and Portugal)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal)

Kevin De Bruyne (Man City and Belgium)

Frenkie De Jong (Barcelona and Holland)

Matthijs De Ligt (Juventus and Holland)

Roberto Firmino (Liverpool and Brazil)

Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona and France)

Eden Hazard (Real Madrid and Belgium)

Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)

Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli and Senegal)

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland)

Hugo Lloris (Tottenham and France)

Sadio Mane (Liverpool and Senegal)

Riyad Mahrez (Man City and Algeria)

Marquinhos (Paris St Germain and Brazil)

Kylian Mbappe (Paris St Germain and France)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt)

Heung-min Son (Tottenham and South Korea)

Raheem Sterling (Man City and England)

Dusan Tadic (Ajax and Serbia)

Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona and Germany)

Donny van de Beek (Ajax and Holland)

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Holland)

Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool and Holland)