In 1973 the Ballon d'Or was won by Johan Cruyff. That year the mercurial attacker led Ajax to their third consecutive European Cup. Playing their revolutionary brand of attacking football, Cruyff and his teammates also won the Dutch championship and the European Supercup. That summer Cruyff was transferred to Barcelona.
| Embed from Getty Images |
| March 1973: Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer exchange pennants prior to the quarter final between Ajax and Bayern Munich |
Cruyff being voted European Footballer of the Year was the outcome of a ballot held amongst a panel of football journalists organised by the magazine France Football, with one vote coming from each of the following 24 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, England, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
The result was announced in the edition dated December 25th, 1973.
| Name | Country | Club | Pts. |
|
1. |
Johan Cruyff | Holland | FC Barcelona | 96 |
2. |
Dino Zoff | Italy | Juventus | 47 |
3. |
Gerd Müller | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 44 |
4. |
Franz Beckenbauer | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 30 |
5. |
Billy Bremner | Scotland | Leeds United | 22 |
6. |
Kazimierz Deyna | Poland | Legia Warsaw | 16 |
7. |
Eusebio | Portugal | Benfica | 14 |
8. |
Gianni Rivera | Italy | AC Milan | 12 |
9. |
Gunter Netzer | West Germany | Borussia M'gladbach | 11 |
| Ralf Edström | Sweden | PSV Eindhoven | 11 | |
11. |
Uli Hoeness | West Germany | Bayern Munich | 8 |
12. |
Giacinto Facchetti | Italy | Inter Milan | 7 |
| Hristo Bonev | Bulgaria | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 7 | |
14. |
Juan Manuel Asensi | Spain | FC Barcelona | 5 |
| Alessandro Mazzola | Italy | Inter Milan | 5 | |
| Jan Tomaszewski | Poland | LKS Lodz | 5 | |
17. |
Wlodzimierz Lubanski | Poland | Gornik Zabrze | 4 |
18. |
Wolfgang Overath | West Germany | 1. FC Köln | 3 |
19. |
Barry Hulshoff | Holland | Ajax | 2 |
| Johan Kreische | East Germany | Hansa Rostock | 2 | |
| Bobby Moore | England | West Ham United | 2 | |
| Roland Sandberg | Sweden | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 2 | |
23. |
Vladislav Bogicevic | Yugoslavia | Red Star Belgrade | 1 |
| Dragan Dzajic | Yugoslavia | Red Star Belgrade | 1 | |
| Pat Jennings | Northern Ireland | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | |
| Denis Law | Scotland | Manchester City | 1 | |
| Ivo Viktor | Czechoslovakia | Dukla Prague | 1 | |
1972 • European Footballer of the Year • 1974