In 1961 the Ballon d'Or was won by Omar Sivori. The diminutive attacker helped Juventus capture their second consecutive Italian league championship that year (the club's third Serie A title in four years), personally scoring 25 goals in 27 games along the way.
| Embed from Getty Images |
| March 1961: Omar Sivori on the bal for Juventus against AC Milan |
Sivori being voted 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 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
The result was announced in the edition dated December 12th, 1961.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
1. |
Omar Sivori | Italy [1] | Juventus | 46 |
2. |
Luis Suárez | Spain | Inter Milan | 40 |
3. |
Johnny Haynes | England | Fulham | 22 |
4. |
Lev Yashin | Soviet Union | Dinamo Moscow | 21 |
5. |
Ferenc Puskas | Hungary | Real Madrid | 16 |
6. |
Alfredo di Stefano | Spain [2] | Real Madrid | 13 |
| Uwe Seeler | West Germany | Hamburger SV | 13 | |
8. |
John Charles | Wales | Juventus | 10 |
9. |
Francisco Gento | Spain | Real Madrid | 7 |
10. |
José Aguas | Portugal | Benfica | 5 |
| Gyula Grosics | Hungary | Tatabanya | 5 | |
| Gerhard Hanappi | Austria | Rapid Vienna | 5 | |
| Bobby Charlton | England | Manchester United | 5 | |
| Josef Masopust | Czechoslovakia | Dukla Prague | 5 | |
| José Santamaría | Spain | Real Madrid | 5 | |
| Dragoslav Sekularac | Yugoslavia | Red Star Belgrade | 5 | |
17. |
Danny Blanchflower | Northern Ireland | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 |
| Kurt Hamrin | Sweden | Fiorentina | 4 | |
| Mikhail Meskhi | Soviet Union | Dinamo Tbilisi | 4 | |
| Viktor Ponedelnik | Soviet Union | SKA Rostov-on-Don | 4 | |
| Horst Szymaniak | West Germany | Catania | 4 | |
| Germano da Figueiredo | Portugal | Benfica | 4 | |
23. |
José Pinto de Almeida | Portugal | Benfica | 3 |
| Slava Metreveli | Soviet Union | Dinamo Moscow | 3 | |
| Max Morlock | West Germany | 1. FC Nürnberg | 3 | |
| Horst Nemec | Austria | Austria Vienna | 3 | |
| Denis Law | Scotland | Torino | 3 | |
28. |
Pierre Bernard | France | Nîmes Olympique | 2 |
| Alberto Costa Pereira | Portugal | Benfica | 2 | |
| Gert Dörfel | West Germany | Hamburger SV | 2 | |
| Norbert Eschmann | Switzerland | Stade Français | 2 | |
| Jimmy Greaves | England | Chelsea | 2 | |
| Lucien Muller | France | Stade de Reims | 2 | |
| Lajos Tichy | Hungary | Honved Budapest | 2 | |
35. |
Charles Antenen | Switzerland | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 1 |
| Mario Coluna | Portugal | Benfica | 1 | |
| Eusebio | Portugal | Benfica | 1 | |
| Gernot Fraydl | Austria | Austria Vienna | 1 | |
| Karl Köller | Austria | First Vienna | 1 | |
| Rudolf Kucera | Czechoslovakia | Dukla Prague | 1 | |
| Dumitru Macri | Romania | Rapid Bucharest | 1 | |
| Jimmy McIlroy | Northern Ireland | Burnley | 1 | |
| Karl Stotz | Austria | Austria Vienna | 1 | |
1960 • European Footballer of the Year • 1962
#1: Omar Sivori was born in Argentina, and had previously made international appearances for that country, but now played for Italy.
#2: Alfredo di Stefano was born in Argentina, and had previously made international appearances for Argentina and Columbia, but now played for Spain.