The 2006 Ballon d'Or, given to the best
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
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 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).
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:
References
External links
''France Football'' Official website
{{Ballon d'Or recipients
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
2006–07 in European football