In 1972 the Ballon d'Or was won by Franz Beckenbauer. The West German defender captained his country to an impressive victory at the European Championship that year, beating England 3-1 at Wembley en route to the tournament and making short work of the Soviet Union in the final, winning 3-0. Beckenbauer also won the German league title with Bayern Munich.
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| April 1972: Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore exchange pennants |
Beckenbauer 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 25 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, England, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, 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 26th, 1972. Marius Trésor was erroneously reported as having received Luigi Riva's point.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. | |
1. |
Franz Beckenbauer | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 81 |
2. |
Gerd Müller | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 79 |
| Gunter Netzer | West Germany | Borussia M'gladbach | 79 | |
4. |
Johan Cruyff | Holland | Ajax | 73 |
5. |
Piet Keizer | Holland | Ajax | 13 |
6. |
Kazimierz Deyna | Poland | Legia Warsaw | 6 |
7. |
Gordon Banks | England | Stoke City | 4 |
| Barry Hulshoff | Holland | Ajax | 4 | |
| Wlodzimierz Lubanski | Poland | Gornik Zabrze | 4 | |
| Bobby Moore | England | West Ham United | 4 | |
11. |
Hristo Bonev | Bulgaria | CSKA Sofia | 3 |
| Gerry Mühren | Holland | Ajax | 3 | |
| Murtaz Khurtsilava | Soviet Union | Dinamo Tbilisi | 3 | |
| Paul van Himst | Belgium | Anderlecht | 3 | |
15. |
Antal Dunai | Hungary | Ujpesti Dozsa | 2 |
| Eusebio | Portugal | Benfica | 2 | |
| Alessandro Mazzola | Italy | Inter Milan | 2 | |
18. |
Amancio Amaro | Spain | Real Madrid | 1 |
| Paul Breitner | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 1 | |
| Giorgio Chinaglia | Italy | Lazio Roma | 1 | |
| Dragan Dzajic | Yugoslavia | Red Star Belgrade | 1 | |
| Johnny Giles | Ireland | Leeds United | 1 | |
| John Greig | Scotland | Glasgow Rangers | 1 | |
| Johan Neeskens | Holland | Ajax | 1 | |
| Luigi Riva | Italy | Cagliari | 1 | |
| Gianni Rivera | Italy | AC Milan | 1 | |
| Evgeni Rudakov | Soviet Union | Dynamo Kiev | 1 | |
1971 • European Footballer of the Year • 1973