2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or

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 by Lionel Messi (3rd Ballon d'Or)
Websitewww.francefootball.fr

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]

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.

Winners and nominees

FIFA Ballon d'Or

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

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

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

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

FIFA Fair Play Award

Controversy

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

  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