In 1959 the Ballon d'Or was won by Alfredo di Stefano. The 'Blond Arrow' had led Real Madrid to their fourth consecutive European Cup that year, beating Stade de Reims in the final. Di Stefano scored six goals in the tournament, including one against Reims. It was the second time the versatile striker was voted European Player of the Year.
| Embed from Getty Images |
| October 1959: Alfredo di Stefano back-heels the ball into the net against Manchester United |
Di Stefano being named European Footballer of the Year was the outcome of a ballot held among a panel of football journalists organised by the magazine 'France Football', with one vote coming from each of the following 20 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
The result was announced in the edition dated December 15th, 1959.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
1. |
Alfredo di Stefano | Spain [1] | Real Madrid | 80 |
2. |
Raymond Kopa | France | Stade de Reims | 42 |
3. |
John Charles | Wales | Juventus | 24 |
4. |
Luis Suárez | Spain | FC Barcelona | 22 |
5. |
Agne Simonsson | Sweden | Örgryte Göteborg | 20 |
6. |
Lajos Tichy | Hungary | Honved Budapest | 18 |
7. |
Ferenc Puskas | Hungary | Real Madrid | 16 |
8. |
Francisco Gento | Spain | Real Madrid | 12 |
9. |
Helmut Rahn | West Germany | 1.FC Köln | 11 |
| 10. | Horst Szymaniak | West Germany | Karlsruher SC | 8 |
| 11. | Lev Yashin | Soviet Union | Dinamo Moscow | 7 |
12. |
Yuri Voinov | Soviet Union | Spartak Moscow | 5 |
13. |
Dezso Bundzsak | Hungary | Voros Lobogo | 4 |
| Nils Liedholm | Sweden | AC Milan | 4 |
|
| Gyula Grosics | Hungary | Tatabanya | 4 |
|
| Ivan Kolev | Bulgaria | CDNA Sofia | 4 |
|
17. |
Just Fontaine | France | Stade de Reims | 3 |
| Georgi Naidenov | Bulgaria | CDNA Sofia | 3 |
|
| Titus Bubernik | Czechoslovakia | Red Star Bratislava | 3 |
|
20. |
Florian Albert | Hungary | Ferencváros | 2 |
| Uwe Seeler | West Germany | Hamburger SV | 2 |
|
| Joan Segarra | Spain | FC Barcelona | 2 |
|
23. |
János Göröcs | Hungary | Ujpesti Dozsa | 1 |
| Cliff Jones | Wales | Sunderland | 1 |
|
| Roger Marche | France | Racing Club de Paris | 1 |
|
| Antonio Ramallets | Spain | FC Barcelona | 1 |
|
1958 • European Footballer of the Year • 1960
#1: Alfredo di Stefano was born in Argentina, and had previously made international appearances for Argentina and Columbia, but now played for Spain.