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.

Below are the nominees in the final order after voting for the 1972 award. The winner was German defender Franz Beckenbauer. Actually, the first three placegetters were German. Beckenbauer also won in 1976, and is the only defender to win the award twice. See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.

Final order for the men's 1972 Ballon d'Or

Order Player Club Nationality Points
1 Franz Beckenbauer Bayern Munich West Germany 81
2 Gerd Müller Bayern Munich West Germany 79
  Günter Netzer Borussia Mönchengladbach West Germany 79
4 Johan Cruyff Ajax Netherlands 73
5 Piet Keizer Ajax Netherlands 13
6 Kazimierz Deyna Legia Warsaw Poland 6
7 Gordon Banks Stoke City England 4
  Barry Hulshoff Ajax Netherlands 4
  Włodzimierz Lubański Górnik Zabrze Poland 4
  Bobby Moore West Ham United England 4
11 Hristo Bonev Lokomotiv Plovdiv Bulgaria 3
  Murtaz Khurtsilava Dinamo Tbilisi Soviet Union 3
  Gerrie Mühren Ajax Netherlands 3
  Paul Van Himst Anderlecht Belgium 3
15 Antal Dunai Újpest Hungary 2
  Eusébio Benfica Portugal 2
  Sandro Mazzola Internazionale Italy 2
18 Amancio Real Madrid Spain 1
  Paul Breitner Bayern Munich West Germany 1
  Giorgio Chinaglia Lazio Italy 1
  Dragan Džajić Red Star Belgrade Yugoslavia 1
  Johnny Giles Leeds United Republic of Ireland 1
  John Greig Rangers Scotland 1
  Johan Neeskens Ajax Netherlands 1
  Gianni Rivera Milan Italy 1
  Yevhen Rudakov Dynamo Kyiv Soviet Union 1
  Marius Trésor Marseille France 1