The 40th Ballon d'Or winner - George Weah

The fortieth Ballon d'Or winner - George Weah   

The first non-European player to win the France Football award

A huge change was made in the Ballon d'Or voting in 1995. From this point on, players who were not born in Europe can now also participate in the competition. This allows players from South America, Africa, Asia, North America, Australia and Oceania to compete in the leaderboard. One of the major criticisms of the Ballon d'Or is no longer a factor and the winner not coming from South America, which is sensational. George Weah was chosen as the best player in the world in 1995.

Milan's Liberian striker triumphed in the competition and became the first and so far only African footballer to win the Ballon d'Or. Wea collects 144 points from the voting of 49 journalists from the countries that are members of the European football headquarters - UEFA. 36 people place him in the top five, of which 20 are in first place, six in second place, three in third place, four in fourth place and another three in fifth place. He managed to overtake Jurgen Klinsmann of Bayern Munich with 36 points. The German collects 108 points from 11 first, 10 second, two third, two fourth and three fifth positions. Ajax attacking midfielder Jari Litmanen is third with only 67 points. Juventus' Alessandro Del Piero and Littmanen's teammate Patrick Kluivert round out the top five, with 57 and 47 points respectively.

Last year's winner Hristo Stoichkov is the only representative of Bulgaria, but he regressed seriously, occupying only 14th position together with Paulo Manuel Sousa. In the summer of 1995, Stoichkov moved to Parma and thus took a slight step back in terms of football. Still, he collected 14 points from the ranking voters for his performance on the year.

Winner George Weah played for two different teams in 1995. In the first half of the year, he was part of the French PSG, for which he scored 18 goals in the 1994/95 season. The team remains only third in the championship – 13 points behind champion Nantes and two behind second-placed Lyon. Weah scored the winner against Sochaux, his only in the league in 1995, but in the cup tournament he managed to score twice, helping PSG to the final, a 1-0 win against Strasbourg. The Parisians also triumphed in the league cup race, in which Weah had another goal. The Liberian was also on target for the 1-1 draw with Barcelona at Camp Nou, which was crucial for the French to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. In addition to all this, he has not a small number of assists, and his inimitable style leads to a transfer to Milan.

The good adaptation in Serie A is immediately apparent. Weah scored on his debut against Padova, then scored two for Roma in a 2-1 win in the Italian capital. The Liberian goalscorer was also on target against Juventus in another 2:1 win, but this time at the San Siro. His Calcio goals by the end of 1995 earned the Rossoneri a 1-0 win over Lazio, which was again achieved in Rome, as well as a draw with Fiorentina. Three more goals in the UEFA Cup and one in the Coppa Italia proved to be enough from a statistical point of view to convince the voting journalists.

George Weah's style, goal-scoring flair, qualities in the finishing phase of the attack, as well as his quick adaptation in the Italian Serie A made him the first player from outside Europe to win the Ballon d'Or. The Liberian leaves behind players who have triumphed in the Champions League and in the most contested championships, which is an indicator of his undeniable qualities.