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.[1] On 16 October 2006, was announced the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts from France Football.[2] There were 52 voters, from Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and 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, the 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 (5pts), second (4pts), third (3pts), fourth (2pts) and fifth choice (1pt).[3]

2006 Ballon d'Or
2006 Ballon d'Or winner Fabio Cannavaro in 2017
Date27 November 2006 (2006-11-27)
LocationParis, France
CountryFrance
Presented byFrance Football
Highlights
Won byItaly Fabio Cannavaro (1st award)
Websitewww.francefootball.fr
← 2005 · Ballon d'Or · 2007 →

Fabio Cannavaro is the most recent defender to have won the award as of 2024.

Rankings

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Voted players

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Rank Player Nationality Club(s) Total Votes by place Votes
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1st Fabio Cannavaro   Italy   Juventus
  Real Madrid
173 20 12 5 5 0 42
2nd Gianluigi Buffon   Italy   Juventus 124 14 6 8 2 2 32
3rd Thierry Henry   France   Arsenal 121 6 15 5 6 4 36
4th Ronaldinho   Brazil   Barcelona 73 2 5 6 10 5 28
5th Zinedine Zidane   France   Real Madrid 71 6 4 5 3 4 22
6th Samuel Eto'o   Cameroon   Barcelona 67 2 3 9 6 6 26
7th Miroslav Klose   Germany   Werder Bremen 29 - 1 4 4 5 14
8th Didier Drogba   Ivory Coast   Chelsea 25 - 1 3 5 2 11
9th Andrea Pirlo   Italy   Milan 17 - 2 1 2 2 7
10th Jens Lehmann   Germany   Arsenal 13 1 1 - 2 - 4
11th Deco   Portugal   Barcelona 11 - - 2 2 1 5
Kaká   Brazil   Milan 11 - - 1 2 4 7
13th Franck Ribéry   France   Marseille 9 - 1 - - 5 6
14th Gennaro Gattuso   Italy   Milan 5 1 - - - - 1
Patrick Vieira   France   Juventus
  Internazionale
5 - 1 - - 1 9
Cristiano Ronaldo   Portugal   Manchester United 5 - - 1 - 2 3
17th Frank Lampard   England   Chelsea 3 - - 1 - - 1
Lukas Podolski   Germany   1. FC Köln
  Bayern Munich
3 - - 1 - - 1
Carles Puyol   Spain   Barcelona 3 - - - - 3 3
20th Juninho   Brazil   Lyon 2 - - - 1 - 1
Lionel Messi   Argentina   FC Barcelona 2 - - - 1 - 1
Luca Toni   Italy   Fiorentina 2 - - - 1 - 1
John Terry   England   Chelsea 2 - - - - 2 2
Gianluca Zambrotta   Italy   Juventus
  Barcelona
2 - - - - 2 2
25th Philipp Lahm   Germany   Bayern Munich 1 - - - - 1 1
David Villa   Spain   Valencia 1 - - - - 1 1

Non-voted players

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The following 24 players were originally in contention for the 2006 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:

Player Nationality Club(s)
Michael Ballack   Germany   Bayern Munich
  Chelsea
Tim Cahill   Australia   Everton
Joe Cole   England   Chelsea
Grégory Coupet   France   Lyon
Cris   Brazil   Lyon
Mahamadou Diarra   Mali   Real Madrid
Michael Essien   Ghana   Chelsea
Cesc Fàbregas   Spain   Arsenal
William Gallas   France   Chelsea
  Arsenal
Steven Gerrard   England   Liverpool
Ludovic Giuly   France   Barcelona
Fabio Grosso   Italy   Palermo
  Internazionale
Claude Makélélé   France   Chelsea
Florent Malouda   France   Lyon
Édison Méndez   Ecuador   LDU Quito
  PSV Eindhoven
Juan Román Riquelme   Argentina   Villarreal
Arjen Robben   Netherlands   Chelsea
Wayne Rooney   England   Manchester United
Willy Sagnol   France   Bayern Munich
Bastian Schweinsteiger   Germany   Bayern Munich
Andriy Shevchenko   Ukraine   Milan
  Chelsea
Lilian Thuram   France   Juventus
  Barcelona
Tiago   Portugal   Lyon
Fernando Torres   Spain   Atlético Madrid

References

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  1. ^ BBC Sport staff (27 November 2006). "Cannavaro wins Euro player award". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  2. ^ Record staff (16 October 2006). "Ronaldo, Deco e Tiago na corrida pela «Bola de Ouro»" [Ronaldo, Deco and Tiago running for «Ballon D'or»]. Record (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  3. ^ Pierrend, José (3 January 2007). "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 2006". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
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