The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best player from the previous year. Up until 1995 it was awarded only to football players from Europe and was generally known as the European Footballer of the Year award.
Below are the nominees in the final order after voting for the 1963 award. The winner was Soviet player Lev Yashin, nicknamed the "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther". Yashin was the first (and so far only) goalkeeper to win this award. The Yashin Trophy, named in his honor, is an annual football award for the world's best male goalkeeper. Yashin was the first Soviet player to win the award.
As only European players were eligible for the Ballon d'Or at this time, there may have been players outside of Europe deserving of the best player of the year award. To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, the results were reevaluated, and it was determined that in 1963 Pelé would have won if he was eligible.
See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.
Final order for the men's 1963 Ballon d'Or
Order | Player | Club | Nationality | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lev Yashin | Dynamo Moscow | Soviet Union | 73 |
2 | Gianni Rivera | Milan | Italy | 55 |
3 | Jimmy Greaves | Tottenham Hotspur | England | 50 |
4 | Denis Law | Manchester United | Scotland | 45 |
5 | Eusébio | Benfica | Portugal | 19 |
6 | Karl-Heinz Schnellinger | 1. FC Köln / Mantova | West Germany | 16 |
7 | Uwe Seeler | Hamburger SV | West Germany | 9 |
8 | Bobby Charlton | Manchester United | England | 5 |
Luis Suárez | Inter Milan | Spain | 5 | |
Giovanni Trapattoni | Milan | Italy | 5 | |
11 | José Altafini | Milan | Brazil | 4 |
Paul Van Himst | Anderlecht | Belgium | 4 | |
13 | Flórián Albert | Ferencváros | Hungary | 3 |
Harry Bild | IFK Norrköping | Sweden | 3 | |
Josef Masopust | Dukla Prague | Czechoslovakia | 3 | |
Omar Sívori | Juventus | Argentina | 3 | |
17 | Robert Herbin | Saint-Étienne | France | 2 |
Jef Jurion | Anderlecht | Belgium | 2 | |
Cesare Maldini | Milan | Italy | 2 | |
Károly Sándor | MTK Budapest | Hungary | 2 | |
21 | Mário Coluna | Benfica | Portugal | 1 |
Ake Johansson | IFK Norrköping | Sweden | 1 | |
Manfred Kaiser | Wismut Aue | East Germany | 1 | |
Metin Oktay | Galatasaray | Turkey | 1 | |
Svatopluk Pluskal | Dukla Prague | Czechoslovakia | 1 |
Related Pages
- Ballon d'Or Home
- About the Yashin Trophy
- Men's Ballon d'Or Winner's List
- Football Awards Lists
- List of the FIFA male player of the year and FIFA female player of the year.
- History of the Ballon d'Or
- The Year in Sport: 1963