2006 Ballon d'Or


The 2006 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 the Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro on 27 November 2006. On 16 October 2006, was announced the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts from France Football. There were 52 voters, from Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales. Each picked a first, second, third, fourth and fifth choice.
Fabio Cannavaro is the last defender to have won the award.

2006 Ballon d'Or Rankings

Voted players

Non-voted players

The following 24 men were originally in contention for the 2006 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:
PlayerNationalityClub
Michael Ballack Bayern Munich / Chelsea
Tim Cahill Everton
Joe Cole Chelsea
Grégory Coupet Lyon
Cris Lyon
Mahamadou Diarra Real Madrid
Michael Essien Chelsea
Cesc Fàbregas Arsenal
William Gallas Chelsea / Arsenal
Steven Gerrard Liverpool
Ludovic Giuly Barcelona
Fabio Grosso Palermo / Internazionale
Claude Makélélé Chelsea
Florent Malouda Lyon
Édison Méndez LDU Quito / PSV
Juan Román Riquelme Villarreal
Arjen Robben Chelsea
Wayne Rooney Manchester United
Willy Sagnol Bayern Munich
Bastian Schweinsteiger Bayern Munich
Andriy Shevchenko Milan / Chelsea
Lilian Thuram Juventus / Barcelona
Tiago Lyon
Fernando Torres Atlético Madrid