AC Milan achieved a historic sweep of the Ballon d'Or awards in 1988-89, with their players claiming 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in both years. In 1988: Marco van Basten (1st), Ruud Gullit (2nd), and Frank Rijkaard (3rd) were all Milan players. In 1989: Van Basten, Gullit, and Franco Baresi completed another Milan sweep. The other clubs listed (Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid) never achieved this consecutive 1-2-3 dominance.