In 1965 the Ballon d'Or was won by Eusebio. The prolific striker won a third straight Portuguese title with Benfica that year and made it to the final of the European Cup. Eusebio was also top scorer of the Portugese league for the second year in a row and helped his adopted country qualify for the 1966 World Cup.
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| January 1965: Eusebio before a training of the Portugal national squad |
Eusebio being voted 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 28th, 1965.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
| 1. | Eusebio | Portugal | Benfica | 67 |
| 2. | Giacinto Facchetti | Italy | Inter Milan | 59 |
| 3. | Luis Suárez | Spain | Inter Milan | 45 |
| 4. | Paul van Himst | Belgium | Anderlecht | 25 |
| 5. | Bobby Charlton | England | Manchester United | 19 |
6. |
Florian Albert | Hungary | Ferencváros | 14 |
| 7. | Gianni Rivera | Italy | AC Milan | 10 |
| 8. | Georgi Asparukhov | Bulgaria | Levski Sofia | 9 |
| Alessandro Mazzola | Italy | Inter Milan | 9 | |
| Valery Voronin | Soviet Union | Torpedo Moscow | 9 | |
| 11. | Denis Law | Scotland | Manchester United | 8 |
| 12. | Karl-Heinz Schnellinger | West Germany | AC Milan | 6 |
| 13. | Ferenc Puskas | Hungary | Honved Budapest | 5 |
| Jim Baxter | Scotland | Sunderland | 3 | |
| 15. | Mario Corso | Italy | Inter Milan | 3 |
| Lev Yashin | Soviet Union | Dinamo Moscow | 3 | |
| 17. | Amancio Amaro | Spain | Real Madrid | 2 |
| Franz Beckenbauer | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 2 | |
| Mario Coluna | Portugal | Benfica | 2 | |
| Milan Galic | Yugoslavia | Partizan Belgrade | 2 | |
| Philippe Gondet | France | Nantes | 2 | |
| Andrej Kvasniak | Czechoslovakia | Sparta Prague | 2 | |
| Ferenc Bene | Hungary | Ujpesti Dozsa | 2 | |
| Slava Metreveli | Soviet Union | Dinamo Tbilisi | 2 | |
| 25. | Ivor Allchurch | Wales | Cardiff City | 1 |
| Siegfried Held | West Germany | Borussia Dortmund | 1 | |
| Jakob Kühn | Switzerland | FC Zürich | 1 | |
1964 • European Footballer of the Year • 1966