In 1963 the Ballon d'Or was won by Lev Yashin. The legendary goalkeeper won the Soviet Championship with Dinamo Moscow that year. Yashin also drew attention to himself at a match held in honour of the Football Association's centenary, pulling of a number of excellent saves for the Rest of the World XI against England at Wembley. Earlier he had been victorious with the Soviet Union at the 1956 Olympics and the 1960 European Championship.
| Embed from Getty Images |
| October 1963: Lev Yashin in action against England on behalf of 'The rest of the World'. |
Yashin 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 21 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
The result was announced in the edition dated December 17th, 1963.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
1. |
Lev Yashin | Soviet Union | Dinamo Moscow | 73 |
2. |
Gianni Rivera | Italy | AC Milan | 56 |
3. |
Jimmy Greaves | England | Tottenham Hotspur | 51 |
4. |
Denis Law | Scotland | Manchester United | 45 |
5. |
Eusebio | Portugal | Benfica | 19 |
6. |
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger | West Germany | Mantova | 16 |
7. |
Uwe Seeler | West Germany | Hamburger SV | 9 |
8. |
Bobby Charlton | England | Manchester United | 5 |
| Giovanni Trapattoni | Italy | AC Milan | 5 | |
| Luis Suárez | Spain | Inter Milan | 5 | |
11. |
Jose Altafini | Italy | AC Milan | 4 |
| 12. | Omar Sivori | Italy [1] | Juventus | 3 |
| Florian Albert | Hungary | Ferencváros | 3 | |
| Harry Bild | Sweden | IFK Norrköping | 3 | |
| Josef Masopust | Czechoslovakia | Dukla Prague | 3 | |
| Paul van Himst | Belgium | Anderlecht | 3 | |
17. |
Jef Jurion | Belgium | Anderlecht | 2 |
| Karoly Sandor | Hungary | MTK Budapest | 2 | |
| Robert Herbin | France | AS Saint-Etienne | 2 | |
| Cesare Maldini | Italy | AC Milan | 2 | |
| 21. | Mario Coluna | Portugal | Benfica | 1 |
| Ake Johansson | Sweden | IFK Norrköping | 1 | |
| Manfred Kaiser | East Germany | Wismut Aue | 1 | |
| Metin Oktay | Turkey | Galatasaray | 1 | |
| Svatopluk Pluskal | Czechoslovakia | Dukla Prague | 1 | |
1962 • European Footballer of the Year • 1964
#1: Omar Sivori was born in Argentina, and had previously made international appearances for Argentina, but now played for Italy.