The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best player from the previous year. Up until 1995 it was awarded only to football players from Europe and was generally known as the European Footballer of the Year award.

Omar Sívori receiving his Ballon d'Or in 1961Omar Sívori receiving his Ballon d'Or in 1961

Below are the nominees in the final order after voting for the 1961 award. The winner was Omar Sívori who played for Juventus. Sivori was born in Argentina, and played the Argentinian national team before becoming an Italian citizen and also playing for Italy. He had taken Italian citizenship by that time he won this award, and is therefore listed as the first Italian player to win the award.

As only European players were eligible for the Ballon d'Or at this time, there may have been players outside of Europe deserving of the best player of the year award. To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ballon d'Or in 2016, the results were reevaluated, and it was determined that in 1961 Pelé would have won if he was eligible.

See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.

Final order for the men's 1961 Ballon d'Or

Order Player Club Nationality Points
1 Omar Sívori Juventus Italy 46
2 Luis Suárez Barcelona / Internazionale Spain 40
3 Johnny Haynes Fulham England 22
4 Lev Yashin Dynamo Moscow Soviet Union 21
5 Ferenc Puskás Real Madrid Hungary 16
6 Alfredo Di Stéfano Real Madrid Spain 13
  Uwe Seeler Hamburger SV West Germany 13
8 John Charles Juventus Wales 10
9 Francisco Gento Real Madrid Spain 8
10 José Águas Benfica Portugal 5
  Bobby Charlton Manchester United England 5
  Gyula Grosics Tatabánya Hungary 5
  Gerhard Hanappi Rapid Wien Austria 5
  Josef Masopust Dukla Prague Czechoslovakia 5
  José Santamaría Real Madrid Spain 5
  Dragoslav Šekularac Red Star Belgrade Yugoslavia 5
17 Danny Blanchflower Tottenham Hotspur Northern Ireland 4
  Germano Benfica Portugal 4
  Kurt Hamrin Fiorentina Sweden 4
  Mikheil Meskhi Dinamo Tbilisi Soviet Union 4
  Viktor Ponedelnik SKA Rostov-on-Don Soviet Union 4
  Horst Szymaniak Karlsruher SC / Catania West Germany 4
23 José Augusto Benfica Portugal 3
  Denis Law Manchester City Scotland 3
    Torino   3
  Slava meterveli Torpedo Moscow Soviet Union 3
  Max Morlock 1. FC Nürnberg West Germany 3
  Horst Nemec Austria Wien Austria 3
28 Pierre Bernard Sedan / Nîmes France 2
  Gert Dörfel Hamburger SV West Germany 2
  Norbert Eschmann Stade Français Switzerland 2
  Jimmy Greaves Chelsea / Milan /  Tottenham Hotspur England 2
  Lucien Muller Reims France 2
  Costa Pereira Benfica Portugal 2
  Lajos Tichy Budapest Honvéd Hungary 2
35 Charles Antenen La Chaux-de-Fonds Switzerland 1
  Mário Coluna Benfica Portugal 1
  Eusébio Benfica Portugal 1
  Gernot Fraydl Austria Wien Austria 1
  Karl Koller First Vienna Austria 1
  Rudolf Kučera Dukla Prague Czechoslovakia 1
  Dumitru Macri Rapid București Romania 1
  Jimmy McIlroy Burnley Northern Ireland 1
  Karl Stotz Austria Wien Austria 1