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Ballon d’Or Betting Guide 2021

Bet on the Ballon d’Or 2021 with our guide to the most prestigious individual award in football!

It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year again. No, not Christmas, it's almost time for the Balon d’Or ceremonies and for fans that love to argue over who the best player in the world is this is our Christmas.

Below we will give you some Balon d’Or background, the lowdown of what to expect from this year's ceremony and hopefully some good tips and predictions on who will take home the trophy this year.

What is the Ballon d’Or?

For those who may have never heard of the Ballon d’Or, it is an award given out every year by France Football (a magazine) to the best men's football player every calendar year. The first award was given out in 1956 and until 1995 the award was only for European footballers. Since then, any professional player in the world can win it and it is considered the most prestigious individual award in the sport. 

The importance of the award has grown every year and that growth can probably be attributed to social media. We live in the age of the sport hot take and no other subject is more talked about than the GOAT (greatest of all time) debate. We happen to live in an era when two of the greatest players, Ronaldo and Messi, have coinciding careers. This means social media is full of arguments on the daily about who is actually the greatest.

Of course, there is no better way to back up your argument than pointing to how many Ballon D’or awards a player has. As only Luka Modric has won the award outside of those two in the last 13 years, we can see why it gets so much attention.

So how many Ballon d’Or does Messi have and how many Ballon d’Or does Ronaldo have? Well, Ronaldo has 5 and Messi has a record-breaking 6. So, we can see why Ballon d’Or 2021 could be the one that finally separates the two. 

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Only Luka Modric has won the award other than Ronaldo & Messi

Ballon d’Or 2021 Betting

Ballon d’Or betting is similar to outright betting a title winner like the premiership winners. Sometimes it can be hard to find the Ballon d’Or section on some football betting sites. With some, it will be in the outrights or specials section but other times you will have to utilize the search sections to find it. You will be able to find Betfair Ballon d’Or odds below, but you can browse our toplist above for more bookmakers who have odds on this once a year bet on football opportunity.

In regards to what you can bet on unfortunately you’re not going to get a wide variety of markets. Most will just offer the outright winner prices. If you search hard enough you might find some bookmakers that let you bet without a certain player or maybe one will let you bet on where an individual player comes but the majority will just give you the outright winner market.

Ballon d'Or Nominees

Find all the players that could be awarded the most prestigious award in football below:

PlayerClub
Cesar AzpilicuetaChelsea
Nicolo BarellaInter Milan
Karim BenzemaReal Madrid
Leonardo BonucciJuventus
Kevin De Bruyne Manchester City
Giorgio ChielliniJuventus
Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United
Ruben Dias Manchester City
Gianluigi Donnarumma Paris Saint-Germain
Bruno FernandesManchester United
Phil FodenManchester City
Erling HaalandBorussia Dortmund
Jorginho Chelsea
Harry Kane Tottenham
N’Golo Kante Chelsea
Simon Kjaer AC Milan
Robert LewandowskiBayern Munich
Romelu Lukaku Chelsea
Riyad Mahrez Manchester City
Lautaro Martinez Inter Milan
Kylian Mbappe Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel MessiParis Saint-Germain
Luka Modric Real Madrid
Gerard Moreno Villarreal
Mason MountChelsea
Neymar Paris Saint-Germain
PedriBarcelona
Mohamed SalahLiverpool
Raheem SterlingManchester City
Luis SuarezAtletico Madrid

Balloon d'or 2021 Predictions

lewandowski
Lewandowski is a favorite to win his first Ballon d'Or this year

The most important thing to take from this article if you take nothing else is: do NOT bet on anyone outside the top two in the betting. This is either the Messi Ballon d’Or or the Lewandowski Ballon d’Or and don’t let anything else you see or hear tell you any different.

The Ballon d’Or is a narrative-driven award. There is no way Luka Modric was a better player than Messi the year he won. Modric however had dragged Croatia to a World Cup final and voters had Messi and Ronaldo fatigue. Modric has also been a great player for years so it was almost like a lifetime achievement award.

My point is the narrative swings voters. No matter how much you try to block the noise out it is impossible to avoid it. This year there is an incredibly interesting narrative battle.

There was no 2020 Ballon d’Or as due to Corona, French Football thought it would be unfair to give an award. This much more likely has to do with the French league being the only one not to play out the rest of their season after the corona stoppage but that’s a discussion for another time.

Lewandowski would have been the clear Ballon d’Or 2020 winner so the narrative behind him is he deserves one for the unbelievable form he has been in for the past two seasons. The narrative behind Messi is he finally won his first international tournament this year having come out of retirement to help his country win the Copa America. Help is an understatement here as he had the most goals and assists in the tournament.

The betting reflects this as up until recently it looked like it was going to be another Messi Ballon d’Or. Now however it's so close that both they’re Ballon d’Or odds are hovering around evens and some bookmakers have Messi favourite whereas others have Lewandowski taking home the award. In the lead up you will hear stories about how Salah or Jorginiho could win the Ballon d’Or. Ignore any hype around these two, Ballon d’Or 2021 is going to Messi or Lewandowski.

Ballon d'or Odds

Find a list of all the odds for the Ballon d'Or Nominees 2021:

PlayerOdds
Lionel Messi 8/11
Robert Lewandowski 1/1
Mohamed Salah28/1
Karim Benzema 28/1
Jorginho 33/1
Cristianio Ronaldo 50/1
Kevin de Bruyne 50/1
Ngolo Kante 50/1
Kylian Mbappe 50/1
Bruno Fernandes 66/1
Erling Haaland66/1
Pedri66/1
Neymar 66/1
Gianluigi Donnarumma66/1
Riyad Mahrez 100/1
Simon Kjaer 100/1
Gerard Moreno100/1
Phil Foden 100/1
Harry Kane 100/1
Romelu Lukaku100/1
Ruben Dias100/1
Luis Suarez 100/1
Mason Mount100/1
Nicolo Barella 125/1
Cesar Azpilicueta 125/1
Leonardo Bonucci125/1
Giorgio Chiellini 200/1
Luka Modric200/1
Lautaro Martinez 200/1
Raheem Sterling200/1
Odds Courtesy of William Hill and were accurate at the time of publication

Best Ballon D’or 2021 Bookmakers

If you want to bet on the Ballon D’or 2021, then these three sites won't steer you wrong:

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William Hill

Not only does William Hill offer great odds for this year's Ballon d’Or but they also have an excellent feature called #yourodds Ballon d’Or. Here you can request, from the William Hill team, some prices for Ballon d’Or futures. For example, currently, on the site, you can bet on Erling Haaland winning the award before the end of 2025.

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Coral

Odds are changing all the time but at the time of writing Messi has again taken over the favourite role from Lewandowski. Coral still has both at 10/11 currently. It is going to be very hard to find a better price if you fancy Messi to win so if he is your man get to Coral ASAP! 

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Betfair  

When using Betfair for Ballon d’Or betting we are going to focus on the exchange. With the exchange, we can back a player like normal but also lay players. This means if you really fancy someone is not going to win you lay them. In this case, you are basically the bookmakers and someone takes your bet. The exchange also normally gives you better odds than normal sportsbooks. Just be careful as there is a bit more risk.

Summary  

Hopefully, now you are well equipped to find your perfect bet for the Ballon d’Or. Remember the main advice is do not look at anyone outside of Lewandowski and Messi. If you are confident in one of these but feel what you are reading and hearing more about the other maybe bide your time before a bet. The award ceremony is on the 29th of November and the prices will fluctuate a lot before then so pick your moment carefully.

Ballon d'Or FAQ

  • How many Ballon d’Or does Messi have?

    6.
  • Who won the Ballon d’Or 2020?

    Due to corona, France football made the decision not to award anyone the 2020 Ballon d’Or.
  • How many Ballon d’Or does Ronaldo have?

    Ronaldo is one behind Messi with 5.
  • Who has the most Ballon d’Or?

    Messi’s 6 is the most any player has won.
  • When is Ballon d’Or 2021?

    The ceremonies take place on 29/11/2021.

Previous Ballon d'Or Winners

The below list contains all Previous Ballon d'or Winners -

DISCLAIMER: brace yourself for the ultimate list of footballing greats!

YearPlayerNationClub
2019Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2018Luka ModricCroatiaReal Madrid
2017Cristianio RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2016Cristianio RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2015Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2014Cristianio RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2013Cristianio RonaldoPortugalReal Madrid
2012Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2011Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2010Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2009Lionel MessiArgentinaBarcelona
2008Cristianio RonaldoPortugalManchester United
2007Kaká BrazilMilan
2006Fabio CannavaroItalyReal Madrid
2005RonaldinhoBrazilBarcelona
2004Andriy ShevchenkoUkrainMilan
2003Pavel NedvědCzech RepublicJuventus
2002RonaldoBrazilReal Madrid
2001Michael OwenEnglandLiverpool
2000Luís FigoPortugalReal Madrid
1999RivaldoBrazilBarcelona
1998Zinedine ZidaneFranceJuventus
1997RonaldoBrazilInternazionale
1996Matthias SammerGermanyBorussia Dortmund
1995George WeahLiberiaMilan
1994Hristo StoichkovBulgariaBarcelona
1993Roberto BaggioItalyJuventus
1992Marco van BastenNetherlandsMilan
1991Jean-Pierre PapinFranceMarseille
1990Lothar MatthäusGermanyInternazionale
1989Marco van BastenNetherlandsMilan
1988Marco van BastenNetherlandsMilan
1987Ruud GullitNetherlandsMilan
1986Igor BelanovSoviet UnionDynamo Kyiv
1985Michel PlatiniFranceJuventus
1984Michel PlatiniFranceJuventus
1983Michel PlatiniFranceJuventus
1982Paolo RossiItalyJuventus
1981Karl-Heinz RummeniggeWest GermanyBayern Munich
1980Karl-Heinz RummeniggeWest GermanyBayern Munich
1979Kevin KeeganEnglandHamburg
1978Kevin KeeganEnglandHamburg
1977Allan SimonsenDenmarkBorussia M”nchengladbach
1976Franz BeckenbauerWest GermanyBayern Munich
1975Oleg BlokhinSoviet UnionDynamo Kyiv
1974Johan CruyffNetherlandsBarcelona
1973Johan CruyffNetherlandsBarcelona
1972Franz BeckenbauerWest GermanyBayern Munich
1971Johan CruyffNetherlandsAjax
1970Gerd MüllerWest GermanyBayern Munich
1969Gianni RiveraItalyMilan
1968George BestNorthern IrelandManchester United
1967Flórián AlbertHungaryFerencv rosi TC
1966Bobby CharltonEnglandManchester United
1965EusébioPortugalBenfica
1964Denis LawScotlandManchester United
1963Lev YashinSoviet UnionDynamo Moscow
1962Josef MasopustCzechoslovakiaDukla Prague
1961Omar SívoriItalyJuventus
1960Luis SuárezSpainBarcelona
1959Alfredo Di StéfanoSpainReal Madrid
1958Raymond KopaFranceReal Madrid
1957Alfredo Di StéfanoSpainReal Madrid
1956Stanley MatthewsEnglandBlackpool