Here we show you the last 10 World Cup ‘Golden Ball’ winners
Can you guess who won the Ballon d’Or in 1998? We have gathered information from Transfermart on some of the best players in football history, that is, their specific FIFA World Cup stats.
This article will tell you about the last 10 players that won the FIFA World Cup ‘Golden Ball’, that is, since 1982.
World Cup ‘Golden Ball’ Winners
- 1982 – Paulo Rossi
- 1986 – Diego Maradona
- 1990 – Salvatore Schillagi
- 1994 – Romario
- 1998 – Ronaldo Nazario
- 2002 – Oliver Kahn
- 2006 – Zinedine Zidane
- 2010 – Diego Forlan
- 2014 – Lionel Messi
- 2018 – Luka Modric
FIFA introduced the World Cup ‘Golden Ball‘ in 1982 which was won by Italy’s Paulo Rossi. The award is presented to the best player of the tournament regardless of the cup winning nation.
Diego Maradona was the last Argentine Golden Boy winner until the day Lionel Messi won it in 2014 for his extraordinary performance in the tournament. Afterall, he helped Argentina to make it to the final which they were destined to lose against Germany.
A Portuguese player has never got a chance to lift the ‘Golden Ball’. It’s crazy how Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t won it yet even after serving Portugal since his debut in 2004 which means that he has been playing for them for 18 straight years now.
Luka Modric was the first ever Croatian player to win the World Cup ‘Golden Ball’ in 2018. In the same year, he was awarded the prestigious Ballon d’Or ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
