1968 Ballon d'Or

{{Short description|Annual association football award event in France}}

{{Infobox award

| name = 1968 Ballon d'Or

| image = George Best (1976).jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = 1968 Ballon d'Or winner George Best in 1976

| date = 24 December 1968

| location =Paris, France

| presenter = France Football

| host =

| website = {{URL|https://www.francefootball.fr/ballon-d-or/|2=francefootball.fr/ballon-d-or}}

| award1_type = Won by

| award1_winner ={{flagicon|Northern Ireland}} George Best (1st award)

| award2_type =

| award2_winner =

| award3_type =

| award3_winner =

| award4_type =

| award4_winner =

| award5_type =

| award5_winner =

| previous = 1967

| main = Ballon d'Or

| next = 1969

}}

The 1968 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to George Best on 24 December 1968.{{Cite web

| url = https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/europa-poy68.html

| title = European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1968

| publisher = RSSSF

| date = 25 June 2005

| accessdate = 13 January 2009

| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090118061631/http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy68.html| archivedate= 18 January 2009 | url-status= live}}

Best was the first Northern Irish national to win the award. He was the third Manchester United player to win the trophy after Denis Law (1964) and Bobby Charlton (1966).{{Cite web

| url = https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/europa-poy.html

| title = European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or")

| publisher = RSSSF

| date = 18 December 2008

| accessdate = 13 January 2009

| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090116080615/http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy.html| archivedate= 16 January 2009 | url-status= live}}