France Football will bestow its seventieth Ballon d’Or award to another top player this evening – but who was its very first recipient?
It wasn’t an Argentinian playmaker or a Portuguese goal machine – it was a veteran winger from Hanley.
Stanley Matthews was born and bred in Stoke-on-Trent, and went on to represent the city’s top club (though he did ironically grow up as a fan of their rivals, Port Vale).
While at the Victoria Ground, Stan won promotion to the top flight and earned the first of his 54 England caps. He almost left the club over a dispute over loyalty bonuses: Stan only relented after thousands of Stoke supporters begged him to reconsider.
The onset of the Second World War deprived Matthews of his peak years, but the winger returned to action with Stoke thereafter. That previous friction with the club surfaced again when he didn’t feature in the starting line-up for a game against Arsenal, and was only recalled for the following fixture due to a last-minute injury to a teammate.
This time, Stan did leave, joining Blackpool in 1947. Manager Joe Smith famously asked him, “You’re 32, do you think you can make it for another couple of years?” Nine years later, he was named the best footballer in Europe.
Given freedom to play his way at Bloomfield Road, Matthews flourished. He won the first ever FWA Footballer of the Year award one year after joining, and played in the 1948 FA Cup Final the following day. He missed out on a winners’ medal a second time in 1951, but his luck changed two years later.
Two goals down with 35 minutes remaining, Matthews sparked a comeback of epic proportions, laying on the assist for Stan Mortensen’s second of the afternoon, then providing the cross for Bill Perry’s last-minute winner.
This earned Matthews the first major silverware of his long career – but it wasn’t why he won the Ballon d’Or.
The award came into existence three years later, created by magazine France Football and determined by accredited football journalists. By this point, Stan had long since celebrated his 41st birthday, but was still showing impressive form for the Seasiders.
He saw off the threat of Real Madrid duo Alfredo Di Stefano and Raymond Kopa to win the award, finishing just three points ahead of the former. Stan was presented with the award at Blackpool Town Hall, just one week before Christmas.
At the age of 41 years and days, Stanley Matthews not only became the first recipient of the Ballon d’Or: he remains its oldest, and by some distance. When Lionel Messi picked up the last of his record-breaking eight awards in 2023, he was still five years younger than Matthews was in 1956.
We are proud to have Stanley Matthews’ inaugural Ballon d’Or award on display as part of our Hall of Fame gallery.