In 1964 the Ballon d'Or was won by Denis Law. The ginger haired striker scored a total of 45 goals in 41 matches for Manchester United that year. Law seems to have been helped by the fact that the favourite, Luis Suárez, who won the European Championship with Spain and the European Cup with Inter Milan, found himself sharing the point awarded in recognition of those achievements with teammates like Amaro (Spain) and Corso (Inter). On the other hand the election of an adventurous player like Law may also have been a form of protest against the ultra-defensive tactics employed by Inter.
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| Denis law receives the Ballon d'Or |
Law being voter European Footballer of the Year was the result 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 22nd, 1964.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
1. |
Denis Law | Scotland | Manchester United | 61 |
2. |
Luis Suárez | Spain | Inter Milan | 43 |
3. |
Amancio Amaro | Spain | Real Madrid | 38 |
4. |
Eusebio | Portugal | Benfica | 31 |
5. |
Paul van Himst | Belgium | Anderlecht | 28 |
6. |
Jimmy Greaves | England | Tottenham Hotspur | 19 |
7. |
Mario Corso | Italy | Inter Milan | 17 |
8. |
Lev Yashin | Soviet Union | Dinamo Moscow | 15 |
9. |
Gianni Rivera | Italy | AC Milan | 14 |
10. |
Valery Voronin | Soviet Union | Torpedo Moscow | 11 |
11. |
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger | West Germany | AS Roma | 6 |
| Ferenc Bene | Hungary | Ujpesti Dozsa | 6 | |
13. |
Jean Nicolay | Belgium | Standard Liège | 5 |
14. |
Helmut Haller | West Germany | Bologna | 4 |
15. |
Jose Torres | Portugal | Benfica | 3 |
16. |
Florian Albert | Hungary | Ferencváros | 2 |
| José Altafini | Italy | AC Milan | 2 | |
| Coen Moulijn | Holland | Feyenoord | 2 | |
19. |
Nestor Combin | France | Juventus | 1 |
| Giacinto Facchetti | Italy | Inter Milan | 1 | |
| Jef Jurion | Belgium | Anderlecht | 1 | |
| Ole Madsen | Denmark | Hallrup IK | 1 | |
| Alessandro Mazzola | Italy | Inter Milan | 1 | |
| Bobby Moore | England | West Ham United | 1 | |
| Omar Sivori | Italy [1] | Juventus | 1 | |
| Klaus Urbanczyk | East Germany | Chemie Halle | 1 | |
1963 • European Footballer of the Year • 1965
#1: Omar Sivori was born in Argentina, and had previously made international appearances for Argentina, but now played for Italy.