Claim: Cristiano Ronaldo plays in international football.

The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport 's governing body , FIFA , since 1991 . Originally an honour bestowed on the world 's best male player , it was awarded to both sexes from 2001 , and from 2010 presented exclusively to the best female player . Coaches and captains of international teams and media representatives selected the player they deem to have performed the best in the previous calendar year .   During the men 's era , Brazilian players won 8 out of 19 years , compared to three wins -- the second most -- for French players . In terms of individual players , Brazil again led with five , followed by Italy and Portugal with two each . The youngest winner was Ronaldo , who won at 20 years old in 1996 , and the oldest winner was Fabio Cannavaro , who won aged 33 in 2006 . Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane each won the award three times , while Ronaldo and Ronaldinho were the only players to win in successive years . From 2010 to 2015 , the equivalent men 's award was the FIFA Ballon d'Or .   Eight female players -- three Germans , three Americans , one Brazilian , and one Japanese -- have won the award . Marta , the youngest recipient at age 20 in 2006 , has won five successive awards , the most of any player . Birgit Prinz won three times in a row and Mia Hamm won twice in a row . The oldest winner is Nadine Angerer , who was 35 when she won in 2013 ; she is also the only goalkeeper of either sex to win .