Top 10 African Ballon d'Or winners list: Does Mohamed Salah lead the ranking?

Unlike the Ballon d'Or, which honours the best player in the world, the African Ballon d'Or refers to the African Footballer of the Year award for the best African player. In the past, both awards were jointly presented by France Football, before the African award was taken over by the Confederation of African Football in 1992. Today, livescorecz.net names the players on the African Ballon d'Or winners list.

Top 10 African Ballon d'Or winners list

Leading the list, surprisingly, are not Mohamed Salah alone but former Barcelona and Chelsea star Samuel Eto'o and Manchester City legend Yaya Touré, who are tied with four wins each. Eto'o dominated the award with three consecutive wins from 2003 to 2005, before winning again in 2010 after claiming a treble with Inter Milan. Yaya Touré won the award four years in a row from 2011 to 2014, during his dominant period with Manchester City in the Premier League.

Second on the list is George Weah, who is also the only African player to have won the Ballon d'Or. He won the African award in 1989 and 1994, before winning both the African Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or in 1995. He also finished as runner-up four times, a record he shares with Didier Drogba.

Ghanaian legend Abedi Pele won the award three times from 1991 to 1993. He also won the CAF version in 1992, but as both awards were presented together at the time, it is counted as a single honour. Didier Drogba won the award twice but finished second four times and third on three occasions.

In the Top 10 list, only two players are still active: Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. Both have won the award twice and shared first and second place between 2017 and 2022, with no awards given in 2020 and 2021. Salah holds one more runner-up finish than Mané, following his second-place finish in 2025.

Most recently, Achraf Hakimi won the African Player of the Year award in 2025. The Moroccan defender enjoyed a treble-winning season with Paris Saint-Germain and strong international results with Morocco. Mohamed Salah finished second after an outstanding 2024/25 season with Liverpool. Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen placed third after an impressive goal-scoring campaign, but fell short of the top two.

Top 10 African Ballon d'Or winners list

1. Samuel Eto’o - Cameroon - 4 wins

2. Yaya Touré - Ivory Coast - 4 wins

3. George Weah - Liberia - 3 wins

4. Abedi Pele - Ghana - 3 wins

5. Didier Drogba - Ivory Coast - 2 wins

6. Mohamed Salah - Egypt - 2 wins

7. Roger Milla - Cameroon - 2 wins

8. Sadio Mané - Senegal - 2 wins

9. Thomas N’Kono - Cameroon - 2 wins

10. Nwankwo Kanu - Nigeria - 2 wins

11. El Hadji Diouf - Senegal - 2 wins

Top 10 Africa best Ballon d'Or finishes (by African players)

Beyond success at club level, African players have also performed strongly in the Ballon d'Or rankings. To date, George Weah remains the only African player to win the Ballon d'Or, achieving the feat in 1995 after an outstanding year with AC Milan.

The highest Ballon d'Or finish by an African player was achieved by Sadio Mané, who finished second in 2022, behind Karim Benzema. Benzema’s performance that year was widely considered decisive, as he led Real Madrid to their 15th Champions League title.

Next on the list are Didier Drogba in 2009 and Mohamed Salah in 2025, both finishing fourth. In 2009, Barcelona dominated world football, with Lionel Messi leading the rankings, leaving little room for Drogba to challenge. That same year, Samuel Eto'o recorded his best Ballon d'Or finish in fifth place.

In 2025, Salah again delivered an outstanding Premier League season. However, his form declined from April and carried into the start of the 2025/26 campaign, resulting in a fourth-place finish. Achraf Hakimi, the African Player of the Year, finished sixth in the Ballon d'Or voting.

Other African players on the list include Riyad Mahrez, who finished seventh in the 2016 Ballon d'Or after leading Leicester City to their first Premier League title. Victor Osimhen placed eighth in 2023 after winning the Serie A with Napoli, claiming the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria, and being named CAF Player of the Year.

Finally, Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou finished 13th in the 2023 Ballon d'Or after his performances at the 2022 World Cup helped Morocco reach the semi-finals, while Ademola Lookman completed the list with a 14th-place finish in the 2024 Ballon d'Or.

Top 10 Africa best Ballon d'Or finishes (by African players)

1. George Weah - Liberia - 1st - 1995

2. Sadio Mané - Senegal - 2nd - 2022

3. Didier Drogba - Ivory Coast - 4th - 2007

4. Mohamed Salah - Egypt - 4th - 2025

5. Samuel Eto’o - Cameroon - 5th - 2009

6. Achraf Hakimi - Morocco - 6th - 2025

7. Riyad Mahrez - Algeria - 7th - 2016

8. Victor Osimhen - Nigeria - 8th - 2023

9. Yassine Bounou - Morocco - 13th - 2023

10. Ademola Lookman - Nigeria - 14th - 2024

In this article, Livescore CZ has listed the Top 10 African Ballon d'Or winners, as well as the Top 10 African players with the highest finishes in Ballon d'Or history. For more prediction about football, follow our main page here.