Liverpool’s No.4 took second place for the accolade of the world’s best men’s player, presented by France Football magazine, after a poll of international journalists.
Van Dijk – who collected the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season and UEFA Men’s Player of the Year prizes earlier this year – is the first Reds man to feature in the top three since Fernando Torres in 2008.
He becomes only the third serving Liverpool player to finish first or second in the Ballon d’Or – after Kenny Dalglish (second in 1983) and Michael Owen (winner in 2001).