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 1987 award. The winner was Ruud Gullit. See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.

Final order for the men's 1987 Ballon d'Or

Order Player Club Nationality Points
1 Ruud Gullit Milan Netherlands 106
2 Paulo Futre Porto /  Atlético Madrid Portugal 91
3 Emilio Butragueño Real Madrid Spain 61
4 Míchel Real Madrid Spain 29
5 Gary Lineker Barcelona England 13
6 John Barnes Liverpool England 10
  Marco van Basten Milan Netherlands 10
8 Gianluca Vialli Sampdoria Italy 9
9 Bryan Robson Manchester United England 7
10 Klaus Allofs Marseille West Germany 6
  Glenn Hysén Fiorentina Sweden 6
12 Manuel Amoros Monaco France 5
  Lothar Matthäus Bayern Munich West Germany 5
14 Mark Hateley Monaco England 4
  Toni Polster Torino Austria 4
  Ian Rush Juventus Wales 4
17 Pierre Littbarski 1. FC Köln West Germany 3
  Paul McGrath Manchester United Republic of Ireland 3
  Jean-Marie Pfaff Bayern Munich Belgium 3
  Oleksandr Zavarov Dynamo Kyiv Soviet Union 3
21 Peter Beardsley Liverpool England 2
  Józef Młynarczyk Porto Poland 2
  Rinat Dasayev Spartak Moscow Soviet Union 2
  Preben Elkjær Hellas Verona Denmark 2
  Gheorghe Hagi Steaua București Romania 2
  Heinz Hermann Neuchâtel Xamax Switzerland 2
  Ally McCoist Rangers Scotland 2
  Rodion Cămătaru Dinamo București Romania 2
  Peter Shilton Derby County England 2
30 Alessandro Altobelli Internazionale Italy 1
  Glenn Hoddle Monaco England 1
  Sokol Kushta Flamurtari Albania 1
  Dimitris Saravakos Panathinaikos Greece 1
  Rudi Völler Roma West Germany 1