In 1969 the Ballon d'Or was won by Gianni Rivera. The Italian play-maker captained AC Milan to victory in the European Cup that year, with an impressive 4-1 victory over Ajax in the final sealing their triumph. It was Rivera's second European Cup win with Milan, after previously having won the 1963 edition.
| Embed from Getty Images |
| Gianni Rivera (standing second from the left) lining up for AC Milan against Manchester United |
Rivera 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 26 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, England, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
The result was announced in the edition dated December 23rd, 1969.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
1. |
Gianni Rivera | Italy | AC Milan | 83 |
2. |
Luigi Riva | Italy | Cagliari | 79 |
3. |
Gerd Müller | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 38 |
4. |
Johan Cruyff | Holland | Ajax | 30 |
| Ove Kindvall | Sweden | Feyenoord | 30 |
|
6. |
George Best | Northern Ireland | Manchester United | 21 |
7. |
Franz Beckenbauer | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 18 |
8. |
Pierino Prati | Italy | AC Milan | 17 |
9. |
Peter Jekov | Bulgaria | CSKA Sofia | 14 |
10. |
Jacky Charlton | England | Leeds United | 10 |
11. |
Albert Shesternev | Soviet Union | Torpedo Moscow | 8 |
12. |
Dragan Dzajic | Yugoslavia | Red Star Belgrade | 6 |
13. |
Francis Lee | England | Manchester City | 4 |
| Martin Peters | England | West Ham United | 4 |
|
15. |
Bobby Charlton | England | Manchester United | 3 |
| Angelo Sormani | Italy | AC Milan | 3 |
|
| Jozef Adamec | Czechoslovakia | Spartak Trnava | 3 |
|
18. |
Andrej Kvasnak | Czechoslovakia | KV Mechelen | 2 |
| Louis Pilot | Luxembourg | Standard Liège | 2 |
|
| Giorgios Sideris | Greece | Olympiakos Piraeus | 2 |
|
| Manuel Velásquez | Spain | Real Madrid | 2 |
|
| Ferenc Bene | Hungary | Ujpesti Dozsa | 2 |
|
23. |
Billy Bremner | Scotland | Leeds United | 1 |
| Kazimierz Deyna | Poland | Legia Warsaw | 1 |
|
| Dimitris Domazos | Greece | Olympiakos Piraeus | 1 |
|
| Gilbert Gress | France | VfB Stuttgart | 1 |
|
| Jimmy Johnstone | Scotland | Celtic | 1 |
|
| Wlodzimierz Lubanski | Poland | Gornik Zabrze | 1 |
|
| Vladimir Muntian | Soviet Union | Dynamo Kiev | 1 |
|
| Wilfred van Moer | Belgium | Standard Liège | 1 |
|
| Ivo Viktor | Czechoslovakia | Dukla Prague | 1 |
|
1968 • European Footballer of the Year • 1970