The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award a footballer can win. Check out historical trend data to track the odds of the current favourites as well read up on history of the award.
The Ballon d’Or is the premier individual prize in football and you can expect to find the usual suspects in the running for the award, as well as some new faces. Our Ballon d’Or odds page offers the latest odds and a look at the current favourites, showing how each participant’s chances have been rated by the bookies.
Ballon d’Or 2024 Latest Odds (Bet365)
Vinicius Jr
4/9
Rodri
7/4
Jude Bellingham
7/1
Dani Carvajal
8/1
Lamine Yamal
11/1
We also track the following betting markets – take a look to see current odds and trends over time:
One month away from the Ballon, d’Or Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr is a massive favourite to win the award. The Brazilian has had a fantastic season where he won the treble with Real Madrid scoring 24 goals in the process. Rodri is a second favourite thanks to Manchester City’s domination of the Premier League and Spain’s heroics at Euro 2024. Jude Bellingham who has a very short price a couple of months ago has drifted out to 7/1 presumably due to England’s disappointing loss in the final of the Euros.
About the data
We monitor trends in odds on key markets of interest by tracking a range of UK and international bookmakers. The update frequency varies, but is clearly shown on all our tables and charts. After fetching odds direct from bookies, we convert them to implied probability to make them easier to manage (read more on implied probability and converting from fractional to % probability). We then take the mean average implied probability to get a consensus view across the betting industry. This average implied probability is what we show on our charts and tables.
Let’s take a look at what the Ballon d’Or is, how it’s decided and who has won it in the past.
Ballon d’Or History
The Ballon d’Or is an annual award presented by France Football to the best performing footballer over the past calendar year. The award is generally considered the highest individual honour a football player can receive. The first Ballon d’Or was awarded in 1956 to Stanley Matthews.
From 2010 to 2015 the Ballon d’Or was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award, though it is now once again independently awarded by France Football. Since 2018 an award has also been presented to the best female player, the Ballon d’Or Feminin.
Ballon d’Or Voting
The Ballon d’Or winner is chosen from 30 nominees by a panel of journalists. The 30-man shortlist is chosen by the editorial staff of France Football, and then an international jury of journalists from a number of different nations vote for the winner. Each country has one representative journalist. A full ranking of all nominees is given during the ceremony before the winner is announced.
Each journalist selects their top five best players, with six points going to the first selection, four to the second, three to the third, two to the fourth and one to the player listed in fifth. The voting is based on set criteria, which are considered in the following order:
Individual and collective performances from the past year
Player class, which France Football defines as “talent and fair play”
The player’s overall career
Ballon d’Or Winners
For the majority of its history, the Ballon d’Or has produced a wide variety of winners, with a new player taking the prize most years. However, from 2008-2017 the award was shared exclusively between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, both winning a record five each whilst playing for La Liga clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, and Manchester United in the case of Ronaldo.
Lionel Messi was named 2019 FIFA Player of the Year, beating Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo. The former Barcelona forward won a record sixth Ballon d Or title.
Daniel is a contributor at Compare.bet. He has half a decade of experience writing on topics including sports betting, online casino and the NBA. Daniel also helped cover Premier League football for Compare.bet news and has interviewed Louis Saha, Richard Dunne and Gary Pallister. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys film photography and making Spotify playlists.
Matt is an SEO Executive and joined us in April 2022. He studied in America for university and then trained as a sports journalist before joining. Matt loves all sports, particularly football, cricket and NFL. In his spare time, he can usually be found cooking or grazing on a village cricket outfield.
