You can tell just by the looking at the winners that the original ballon d'or was geared towards the European leagues, and voted for by European journalists, giving it somewhat of a continental feel, as opposed to the WPOTY which was less restricted - despite the rule change in 95 allowing non Europeans to win it, some of the winners of the ballon d'or weren't necessarily the best in the world.
FIFA WPOTY
1991
Lothar Matthaus(Germany & Inter Milan)
1992
Marco Van Basten (Holland & AC Milan)
1993
Roberto Baggio (Italy & Juventus)
1994
Romario (Brazil & Barcelona)
1995
George Weah (Liberia & AC Milan)
1996
Ronaldo (Brazil & Barcelona)
1997
Ronaldo (Brazil & Inter Milan)
1998
Zinedine Zidane (France & Juventus)
1999
Rivaldo (Brazil & Barcelona)
2000
Zinedine Zidane (France & Juventus)
2001
Luis Figo (Portugal & Real Madrid)
2002
Ronaldo (Brazil & Real Madrid)
2003
Zinedine Zidane (France & Real Madrid)
2004
Ronaldinho (Brazil & Barcelona)
2005
Ronaldinho (Brazil & Barcelona)
2006
Fabio Cannavaro(Italy & Real Madrid)
2007
Kaka (Brazil & AC Milan)
2008
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal & Manchester United)
2009
Lionel Messi (Argentina & Barcelona)
Ballon d'or
1991 Jean-Pierre Papin
1992 Marco van Basten
1993 Roberto Baggio
1994 Hristo Stoichkov
1995 George Weah
1996 Matthias Sammer
1997 Ronaldo
1998 Zinedine Zidane
1999 Rivaldo
2000 Luis Figo
2001 Michael Owen
2002 Ronaldo
2003 Pavel Nedved
2004 Andriy Shevchenko
2005 Ronaldinho
2006 Fabio Cannavaro
2007 Kaka
2008 Cristiano Ronaldo
2009 Lionel Messi
How Michael Owen won the Ballon d'Or WITHOUT being crowned the world's best footballer
Read more at
http://talksport.com/football/how-m...t-footballer-141202127287#8tZfmm3OOgdquEHv.99
[Extract] ..............All of which convinced a panel of sports journalists from around Europe to award Owen the 2001 Ballon d'Or, ahead of Real Madrid's Raul.
But it wasn't the Ballon d'Or which Lionel Messi,
Cristiano Ronaldo and Manuel Neuer hope to claim in January, having been shortlisted for the 2014 prize that will crown the world's best player this year.
Instead, the original Ballon d'Or – which ran from 1956 to 2009 – was an award organised by France Football magazine and given to the European Footballer of the Year.
Until 1995, only European players playing for European clubs were eligible for the original Ballon d'Or, meaning the likes of Pele and Diego Maradona weren't considered for the honour, despite the latter playing for
Napoli with distinction (although both players were later awarded honorary Ballon d'Ors).
Africa's George Weah became the first non-European winner in 1995, thanks to his form with
AC Milan, while Owen's 2001 win was the fourth for an English player after Sir Stanley Matthews (the inaugural winner in 1956), Sir
Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (twice, in 1978 and 1979).
Meanwhile, in 1991 FIFA introduced a global award to crown the world's best player, with Germany's 1990 World Cup-winning captain Lothar Matthaus the first winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year.
A decade later, Portugal's Luis Figo was crowned FIFA World Player of the Year (with
David Beckham as runner up and Raul third, pictured below), while Ballon d'Or winner Owen finished eighth in the voting.