The 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala was the second year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The awards were given out in Zürich on 9 January 2012, with Lionel Messi claiming the title of world player of the year for the third time in a row.[1][2]

2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or
2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or Winner, Lionel Messi
Date9 January 2012 (2012-01-09)
LocationZürich, Switzerland
CountrySwitzerland
Presented byFIFA
Highlights
Won byArgentina Lionel Messi (3rd Ballon d'Or)
Websitewww.francefootball.fr
← 2010 · FIFA Ballon d'Or · 2012 →

The gala ceremony was hosted by former Ballon d'Or winner Ruud Gullit and broadcast journalist Kay Murray of Real Madrid TV and Fox Soccer Channel, with singer-songwriter James Blunt and his band providing musical entertainment.[citation needed]

Winners and nominees

edit

FIFA Ballon d'Or

edit

The top three nominees for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or were:

Rank Player[2] National team Club(s) Percent
1st Lionel Messi   Argentina   Barcelona 47.88%
2nd Cristiano Ronaldo   Portugal   Real Madrid 21.60%
3rd Xavi   Spain   Barcelona 9.23%

The following twenty players were also in contention for the award:

Rank Player[3] National team Club(s) Percent
4th Andrés Iniesta   Spain   Barcelona 6.01%
5th Wayne Rooney   England   Manchester United 2.31%
6th Luis Suárez   Uruguay   Ajax
  Liverpool
1.48%
7th Diego Forlán   Uruguay   Atlético Madrid
  Internazionale
1.43%
8th Samuel Eto'o   Cameroon   Internazionale
  Anzhi Makhachkala
1.34%
9th Iker Casillas   Spain   Real Madrid 1.29%
10th Neymar   Brazil   Santos 1.12%
11th Mesut Özil   Germany   Real Madrid 0.76%
12th Wesley Sneijder   Netherlands   Internazionale 0.72%
13th Thomas Müller   Germany   Bayern Munich 0.64%
14th David Villa   Spain   Barcelona 0.53%
15th Bastian Schweinsteiger   Germany   Bayern Munich 0.50%
16th Xabi Alonso   Spain   Real Madrid 0.48%
17th Sergio Agüero   Argentina   Atlético Madrid
  Manchester City
0.48%
18th Eric Abidal   France   Barcelona 0.36%
19th Dani Alves   Brazil   Barcelona 0.34%
20th Karim Benzema   France   Real Madrid 0.34%
21st Cesc Fàbregas   Spain   Arsenal
  Barcelona
0.29%
22nd Nani   Portugal   Manchester United 0.26%
23rd Gerard Piqué   Spain   Barcelona 0.22%

FIFA Women's World Player of the Year

edit

The top three nominees for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year were:

Rank Player[2] National team Club(s) Percent
1st Homare Sawa   Japan   INAC Kobe Leonessa 28.51%
2nd Marta   Brazil   Western New York Flash 17.28%
3rd Abby Wambach   United States   magicJack 13.26%

The following seven players also in contention for the award:

Rank Player[3] Nationality Club(s) Percent
4th Aya Miyama   Japan   Okayama Yunogo Belle 12.18%
5th Hope Solo   United States   magicJack 7.83%
6th Lotta Schelin   Sweden   Lyon 4.85%
7th Kerstin Garefrekes   Germany   1. FFC Frankfurt 4.73%
8th Alex Morgan   United States   Western New York Flash 4.34%
9th Louisa Nécib   France   Lyon 3.21%
10th Sonia Bompastor   France   Lyon 2.99%

FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football

edit
Rank Coach[2] Nationality Team(s) Percent
1st Pep Guardiola   Spain   Barcelona 41.90%
2nd Sir Alex Ferguson   Scotland   Manchester United 15.59%
3rd José Mourinho   Portugal   Real Madrid 12.43%
Rank Coach Nationality Team(s) Votes
4th Vicente del Bosque   Spain   Spain 9.12%
5th Óscar Tabárez   Uruguay   Uruguay 7.47%
6th Joachim Löw   Germany   Germany 4.40%
7th André Villas-Boas   Portugal   Porto
  Chelsea
4.16%
8th Arsène Wenger   France   Arsenal 1.91%
9th Jürgen Klopp   Germany   Borussia Dortmund 1.54%
10th Rudi Garcia   France   Lille 0.89%

FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football

edit
Rank Coach[2] Nationality Team(s) Percent
1st Norio Sasaki   Japan   Japan 45.57%
2nd Pia Sundhage   Sweden   United States 15.83%
3rd Bruno Bini   France   France 10.28%
Position Player[2] National team Club(s)
GK Iker Casillas   Spain   Real Madrid
DF Dani Alves   Brazil   Barcelona
DF Gerard Piqué   Spain   Barcelona
DF Sergio Ramos   Spain   Real Madrid
DF Nemanja Vidić   Serbia   Manchester United
MF Xabi Alonso   Spain   Real Madrid
MF Andrés Iniesta   Spain   Barcelona
MF Xavi   Spain   Barcelona
FW Cristiano Ronaldo   Portugal   Real Madrid
FW Lionel Messi   Argentina   Barcelona
FW Wayne Rooney   England   Manchester United
Rank Player[2] Nationality Team Percent
1st Neymar   Brazil   Santos
2nd Wayne Rooney   England   Manchester United
3rd Lionel Messi   Argentina   Barcelona

FIFA Presidential Award

edit

FIFA Fair Play Award

edit

Controversy

edit

The day after the awards ceremony, Spanish newspaper Marca reported that none of the four captains of the Spanish women's national team had voted for the Women's World Player of the Year award.[4] According to the list of votes published by FIFA, captain Sandra Vilanova had awarded five points to Hope Solo, three to Louisa Nécib and one to Marta.[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Messi crowned world's best". ESPN. 9 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Messi, Sawa, Guardiola and Sasaki triumph at FIFA Ballon d'Or 2011". FIFA.com. 9 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  3. ^ a b "FIFA Ballon d'Or 2011 - voting results" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  4. ^ The Ballon d'Or's ghost vote. Archived 14 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine Marca
  5. ^ List of votes in FIFA's website
edit