First Ballon d'Or winner

First Ballon d'Or winner

Stanley Matthews handled Di Stefano's competition in 1956

The first "Golden Ball" award for the best football player in Europe was given in 1956. Sports journalists from UEFA member countries have the right to vote on who will be the winner. The award went to Englishman Stanley Matthews of Blackpool, who saw off competition from Alfredo Di Stefano, who finished second, with Raymond Kopa, Ferenc Puskas and Lev Yashin rounding out the top five.

Matthews collected 47 points - 3 more than the Real Madrid forward and on December 18, 56, he took the first "Golden Ball" in history. There are also two Bulgarians in the ranking - Ivan Kolev from CDNA Sofia, who remains ninth with 4 points and his teammate Stefan Bozhkov, who is 13th with 2 points.

The most impressive moment of Matthews' career did not come until he was 41 years old. Having spent his first 15 professional seasons at Stoke City, in 1947 he moved to Blackpool, with whom he achieved the greatest success of his career. In 1953 he was instrumental in his side's success in the FA Cup final against Bolton Wanderers and in 1956 he was the man who saw Blackpool finish second in the English Championship, 11 points behind champions Manchester United.

Stanley Matthews is known for continuing to play football at a professional level into his 50s, as well as being one of the finest dribblers of his time. It is because of this fact that he mainly plays on the right flank of the attack. The former Blackpool, Stoke and Toronto player also did not receive a single penalty card in almost 700 league games and 84 appearances for England's under-42s. In addition to all this, Matthews also became the first footballer in history to be knighted. This takes place in 1965, so don't be surprised when you see "Sir" in front of the player's name.

The 1955/56 season was definitely one of his strongest and there is no surprise in the fact that he won the Ballon d'Or. He is the man who suggested Blackpool could challenge for the Premier League title from the first round after his incredible performance earned them a 3-1 win over Arsenal. A match that has been named the best of his career and even surpasses the 1953 cup final.

Whether it is because of his advanced age or because of the finesse with which he overcomes the opponent's players, Stanley Matthews manages to attract the attention of journalists who have the right to vote for the first ever Ballon d'Or.

The Blackpool footballer is proof that the first best player award, albeit only in Europe at the time, was not given because of the club's achievements, as Di Stefano won the first European Champions Cup and the third-placed Raymond Kopa was finalist with French Reims. The first Ballon d'Or award was received by a player impressive with his individual play on the field, with the ease with which he presented himself for a more modest team that did not have many achievements.

Sir Stanley Matthews will forever go down in history as the first and oldest winner of football's greatest individual award.

.