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The FIFA World Cup is fast approaching and the opportunity for players to use the biggest football competition in history to raise their stock has come again.
While all the countries will be looking to get their hands on the World Cup trophy, a select few players will be aiming to be crowned the Player of the Tournament, picking up the FIFA Golden Ball award in the process.
Since its introduction in 1982, there have been 10 winners of the prestigious award with household names such as Diego Maradona, Oliver Khan, Zinedine Zidane, and Lionel Messi all previous winners of the prize.
Some records about the FIFA Golden Ball
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The FIFA Golden Ball award was officially handed out for the first time in 1982 (in previous World Cup editions, there was no official recognition/award for the best player) to Italian forward Paolo Rossi.
No player has won the award twice but the 2022 FIFA World Cup will see two former winners (Lionel Messi & Luka Modric) play in Qatar for a chance to make history as the first player to win the FIFA Golden Ball award twice.
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Italy, Argentina, and Brazil have all had two different players win the award while German international Oliver Khan is the only goalkeeper to have won the award.
Of the 10 previous winners, eight (8) have been forwards/strikers with Khan (mentioned above) and Zinedine Zidane the only non-attacking players to have won the FIFA Golden Ball award.
Here are the 10 previous winners of the FIFA Golden Ball award:
1982 Golden Ball winner: Paolo Rossi - Italy
The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the Paolo Rossi tournament, as the Italian forward scored six (6) goals in seven (7) matches to help Italy win the trophy.
Other than the World Cup trophy, Rossi made a clean sweep of the two biggest individual awards at the tournament, going home with both the Golden Ball award and the Golden Boot award (as the highest goalscorer).
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Later that year, Rossi won the 1982 Ballon d'Or award also, becoming the only player in history to win all four World trophies in the same calendar year.
Brazil's Falcao and Germany's Karl Heinz-Rummenigge won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
1986 Golden Ball winner: Diego Maradona - Argentina
The legend of Diego Maradona was cemented during the Mexico '86 World Cup where he led Argentina to their second World title with a final win over West Germany.
Maradona scored two of the most iconic goals in world football at the 1986 World Cup. The 'Hand of God' goal and the 'Goal of the Century' both came in the 2-1 quarterfinal victory over England.
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The Argentine forward was deservedly awarded the 1986 Golden Ball award with Germany's Harald Schumacher and Denmark's Preben Elkjaer finishing with the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
1990 Golden Ball winner: Salvatore Schillaci - Italy
Lothar Matthaus and Diego Maradona were tipped as the pre-tournament favourites to win the Golden Ball and/or Golden Boot awards at the Italia '90 World Cup but little-known Salvatore Schillaci had other ideas.
Despite starting the first game of the World Cup on the bench, Schillaci came on as a second-half substitute to score the only goal of Italy's 1-0 win over Austria. He never looked back from then onwards.
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Schillaci would go on to score six (6) goals in seven (7) matches to help Italy win the World Cup as well as scooping the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards also.
Matthaus and Maradona won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively in one of the biggest upsets of the competition.
1994 Golden Ball winner: Romario - Brazil
After a chaotic World Cup qualifiers during which he was dropped for the first seven games, Romario ensured Brazil qualified for the U.S.A. '94 World Cup by scoring both goals in a 2-0 must-win match against Uruguay.
That was only the beginning as Romario scored another five (5) goals in the World Cup finals and made one (1) assist to help Brazil win their fourth World Cup trophy.
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Romario was awarded the FIFA Golden Ball award for his performances at the World Cup. He also won the 1994 FIFA World Player of the Year award later that year.
Italy's Roberto Baggio and Bulgaria's Hristo Stoichkov won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively at the 1994 World Cup.
1998 Golden Ball winner: Ronaldo - Brazil
At the peak of his powers, Ronaldo Nazario de Lima arrived at the France '98 World Cup with the expectation of a nation on his shoulders after Romario was left out of the Brazil squad due to injury.
Ronaldo did not disappoint as he scored four (4) goals and made three (3) assists en route to the final against hosts France. Then 21-year-old, Ronaldo suffered a convulsive fit that severely affected his performance in the final which Brazil went on to lose 3-0.
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Despite not winning the World Cup or the Golden Boot, Ronaldo was still awarded the Golden Ball for his excellent performances leading up to the final.
Croatia's Davor Suker and France's Lilian Thuram won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
2002 Golden Ball winner: Oliver Kahn - Germany
Oliver Khan made history during the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup where he was greatly instrumental in Germany reaching the final when no one gave them a chance.
Kahn's excellent reflexes and saves helped Germany keep five (5) clean sheets en route to the final against Brazil where they lost 2-0.
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Despite being at fault for Brazil's first goal of the 2002 World Cup final, Oliver Khan was still selected as the Golden Ball winner ahead of the tournament's highest goalscorer, Ronaldo.
Brazil's Ronaldo and Korea's Hong Myung-bo won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
2006 Golden Ball winner: Zinedine Zidane - France
In his swansong tournament with France, Zidane won perhaps the only accolade left on offer at the Germany 2006 World Cup - the FIFA Golden Ball award - after incredibly coming out of retirement to captain the French team.
Despite playing from a midfield position, Zidane was the most instrumental player in France's run to the final, bagging two (2) goals and two (2) assists including a goal in the 2-1 loss to Italy in the final.
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Though, the 2006 World Cup final which was Zidane's last match as a footballer was marred by his getting sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi, he was still given the Golden Ball award.
Italian pair Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
2010 Golden Ball winner: Diego Forlan - Uruguay
Uruguay's unexpected run to the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup was primarily down to Diego Forlan's brilliance and long-range goals.
The forward scored five (5) goals in seven (7) matches - three of which were from outside the penalty area (a joint World Cup record - to finish as the joint top scorer at the tournament.
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Forlan was awarded the 2010 Golden Ball as well as winning the Goal of the Tournament - for his volley against Germany in the third-place match - while he missed out on the Golden Boot award to Thomas Muller.
Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder and Spain's David Villa were awarded the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
2014 Golden Ball winner: Lionel Messi - Argentina
After many recent final letdowns, Argentina made the short trip to the Brazil 2014 World Cup with the World's Best player Lionel Messi in their ranks, hoping for a taste of silverware at last.
Messi was at his near-best in Brazil, almost single-handedly helping Argentina to the final with his four (4) goals and one (1) assist accounting for 62.5% of Argentina's goals at the World Cup.
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Argentina again suffered heartbreak as they lost 1-0 to Germany in the final but Messi was given the 2014 FIFA Golden Ball award for his performances at the tournament.
Germany's Thomas Muller and Netherlands' Arjen Robben won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
2018 Golden Ball winner: Luka Modric - Croatia
The 2018 Golden Ball award was won by Croatia's captain and most influential player Luka Modric, who led his team's surprise run to the final.
Modric's influence at the 2018 World Cup included regulation time goals, assists, penalty goals and penalty shootout goals before the Croatians fell to a 4-2 final defeat at the hands of France.
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Irrespective, Modric was still awarded the 2018 Golden Ball. He would go on to also win the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award, The Best FIFA Men's Player award, and the Ballon d'Or award all in 2018.
Belgium's Eden Hazard and France's Antoine Griezmann were awarded the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.