Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the GOAL 50 a joint-record five times each while the best playersin the world - men and women - continue to see their achievements recognised.
If you're wondering what the GOAL 50 is, GOAL brings you all the past winners and everything you need to know.
What is the GOAL 50?
GOAL 50 is an annual award presented by GOAL which ranks the 50 best footballers in the world over the previous 12 months.
Till 2021, the victors were decided by a panel of experts across our 42 editions. The last time around, the power was put in the hands of the fans to decide who finishes top of the pile.
How did it work?
Two shortlists of the 50 best male and female players in the world were made based on their performance at at both club and international level, readers were about to access these lists via the GOAL apps and place their votes.
However, it was not simply be a case of voting for your favourite player as randomly selected head-to-heads were presented to the general voter.
There were 2,450 possible match-ups in both the men's and women's sections, and the players with the most victories was crowned the GOAL 50 winners in both men and women's categories.
Previous GOAL 50 winners
Lionel Messi joined Cristiano Ronaldo with five GOAL 50 awards by winning the 2021 edition of the award with the new voting system.
Former Inter star Wesley Sneijder, Croatia captain Luka Modric, Liverpool defender Van Dijk and former Bayern star Robert Lewandowski are the only players outside of the aforementioned duo to win men's GOAL 50 since its inception.
Barcelona and Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the last edition of the GOAL 50 in the women's category, and Pernille Harder in 2020, while Megan Rapinoe was the first female recipient of the award when she won it in 2019.
Previous GOAL 50 winners
Yeah | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Lionel Messi | Fernando Torres |
2009 | Lionel Messi | Andres Iniesta | Xavi |
2010 | Wesley Sneijder | Lionel Messi | Xavi |
2011 | Lionel Messi | Lionel Messi | Xavi |
2012 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Iker Casillas | Lionel Messi |
2013 | Lionel Messi | Franck Ribery | Robert Lewandowski |
2014 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Arjen Robben | Lionel Messi |
2015 | Lionel Messi | Cristiano Ronaldo | Luis Suarez |
2016 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Luis Suarez | Antoine Griezmann |
2017 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Gianluigi Buffon | Luka Modric |
2018 | Luka Modric | Cristiano Ronaldo | Mohamed Salah |
2019 | Virgil van Dijk | Lionel Messi | Mohamed Salah |
2019 | Megan Rapinoe | Lucy Bronze | Sam Kerr |
2020 | Robert Lewandowski | Kevin De Bruyne | Lionel Messi |
2020 | Pernille Harder | Vivianne Miedema | Lucy Bronze |
2021 | Lionel Messi | Cristiano Ronaldo | Robert Lewandowski |
2021 | Alexia Putellas | Irene Paredes | Asisat Oshoala |
Van Dijk became the first ever defender to win the GOAL 50 when he was crowned in 2019, beating competition from Messi and Mohamed Salah.
Other players who have been in the top three include Fernando Torres, Xavi, Luis Suarez, Arjen Robben Antoine Griezmann and Gianluigi Buffon.
Messi was handed the GOAL 50 in 2021 as the PSG star earned a record-extending eighth top-scorer award in La Liga with Barcelona before winning the Copa America with Argentina and picking up the tournament's Golden Ball and Golden Boot.
He beat Ronaldo and Lewandowski to first place, with Alexia Putellas being crowned the women's winner.