List Of World Cup Winners Since 1930
Every four years, the World Cup brings in an audience of billions of because of the all-encompassing nature of the world's most popular sport.
While the event's main prize is surely the cup itself, the tournament does award those who have enthralled the worldwide audience with great performances throughout the tournament.
Below are winners of the Golden Shoe, Golden Boot, Best Young Player, Fair Play Trophy, Golden Ball, Yashin Award for the Best Goalkeeper, Golden Glove and most Entertaining Team from each World Cup.
Golden Boot/Golden Shoe winners
Out of all the awards in the World Cup, the Golden Boot is perhaps the most objective one because it is based on statistics and not votes. It's simply awarded to the tournament's top goal scorer.
The Golden Boot wasn't formally awarded until 1982, back when it was called the Golden Shoe. Prior to that, there was no award to recognize the World Cup's top goal scorer, but we'll list them anyway. The award was rebranded as the Golden Boot in 2010 and since then, the Silver Boot and Bronze Boot have been awarded to the second and third top goa lscorers.
If there is a tie at the top for the Golden Boot, the tiebreaker goes to the player with the most assists, as we saw in 2010 when Germany's Thomas Muller, Spain's David Villa, and the Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder each had five goals. Muller had three assists, while Villa and Sneijder each had one. Thus, the Golden Ball went to Muller.
Year, name, team, goals scored
Top goalscorers
1930: Guillermo Stabile, Uruguay (8)
1934: Oldrich Nejedly, Czechoslovakia (5)
1938: Leonidas, Brazil (7)
1942, 1946: No World Cup due to World War II.
1950: Ademir, Brazil (8)
1954: Sandor Kocsis, Hungary (11)
1958: Just Fontaine, France (13)
1962: Florian Albert, Hungary; Valentin Ivanov, Soviet Union; Drazen Jerkoviv, Yugoslavia; Leonel Sanchez, Chile; Vava, Brazil; Garrincha, Brazil (4)
1966: Eusebio, Portugal (9)
1970: Gerd Mueller, West Germany (10)
1974: Grzegorz Lato, Poland (7)
1978: Mario Kempes, Argentina (6)
Golden Shoe
1982: Paolo Rossi, Italy (6)
1986: Gary Lineker, England (6)
1990: Salvatore Schillaci, Italy (6)
1994: Oleg Salenko, Russia; Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgaria (6)
1998: Davor Suker, Croatia (6)
2002: Ronaldo, Brazil (8)
2006: Miroslav Klose, Germany (5)
Golden Boot
2010: Thomas Mueller, Germany (5)
2014: James Rodriguez, Colombia (6)
Best Young Player winners
Since 1958, FIFA awarded the player who performed the best throughout the cup that didn't turn 21 before the calendar year of the World Cup. The award also became a precursor for fans for up-and-comers to keep an eye on.
Year, name, team, age
1958: Pele, Brazil (17)
1962: Florian Albert, Hungary (20)
1966: Franz Beckenbauer, West Germany (20)
1970: Teofilo Cubillas, Peru (21)
1974: Wladyslaw Zmuda, Poland (20)
1978: Antonio Cabrini, Italy (20)
1982: Manuel Amoros, France (21)
1986: Enzo Scifo, Belgium (20)
1990: Robert Prosinecki, Yugoslavia (21)
1994: Marc Overmars, Netherlands (21)
1998: Michael Owen, England (18)
2002: Landon Donovan, United States (20)
2006: Lukas Podolski, Germany (21)
2010: Thomas Muller, Germany (20)
2014: Paul Pogba, France (21)
Fair Play Trophy winners
The original FIFA Fair Play Trophy given to Peru in 1970 awarded its 'achievement in winning this award conducting themselves in the highest traditions of sportsmanship on the field of play.'
The same criteria has been used ever since, and the countries who win earn $50,000 for their youth development programs, a diploma, a fair play medal for each official and player, and the trophy itself. However, only teams that advance to the knockout stage are eligible for it.
Year, team
1970: Peru
1974: West Germany
1978: Argentina
1982: Brazil
Action verb pictures for kids. 1986: Brazil
1990: England
1994: Brazil
1998: England and France
2002: Belgium
2006: Spain and Brazil
2010: Spain
2014: Colombia
Golden Ball winners
The Golden Ball is awarded to the most outstanding player of the tournament, regardless of where his team finished in the final standings.
Although there have been players who've won the Golden Shoe/Golden Boot and Golden Ball, scoring the most amount of goals doesn't necessarily equate to winning the award.
The award is voted on by media members, who are given a list of names to choose from by the FIFA technical committee. The Silver Ball and Bronze Ball is awarded to the second and third leading vote-getters.
Year, player, team
1978: Mario Kempes, Argentina
1982: Paolo Rossi, Italy
1986: Diego Maradona, Argentina
1990: Salvatore Schillaci, Italy
1994: Romario, Brazil
1998: Ronaldo, Brazil
2002: Oliver Kahn, Germany
2006: Zinedine Zidane, France
2010: Diego Forlan, Uruguay
2014: Lionel Messi, Argentina
Yashin/Golden Glove award winners
The Lev Yashin Award was given to the top goalkeeper of the tournament in memory of the late Soviet goalkeeper, starting in 1994. It was renamed the Golden Glove Award in 2010. It is selected by the FIFA Technical Study Group.
Winning the Golden Glove doesn't prohibit a player from winning the Golden Ball, as Germany's Oliver Kahn did so in 2002.
Year, player, team
Yashin Award
1994: Michel Preud'homme, Belgium
1998: Fabein Barthez, France
2002: Oliver Kahn, Germany
2006: Gianluigi Buffon, Italy
Golden Glove
2010: Iker Casillas, Spain
2014: Manuel Neuer, Germany
FIFA Award for the Most Entertaining Team winners
The FIFA Award for the Most Entertaining Team was the only award voted on by fans and had a brief stint from 1994 to 2006 before being discontinued.
Year, team
1994: Brazil
1998: France
2002: South Korea
2006: Portugal