| 2005 Ballon d'Or | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 2005 Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho | ||||
| Date | 28 November 2005 (2005-11-28) | |||
| Location | Paris, France | |||
| Country | France | |||
| Presented by | France Football | |||
| Highlights | ||||
| Won by |  Ronaldinho (1st award) | |||
| Website | www | |||
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The2005 Ballon d'Or, given to the bestfootball player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists fromUEFA member countries, was delivered to the BrazilianmidfielderRonaldinho on 28 November 2005.[1] On 24 October 2005, was announced the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts fromFrance 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 and Montenegro, 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]
Ronaldinho was the third Brazilian to win the award afterRivaldo (1999) andRonaldo.Paolo Maldini (Italy) was the best rankeddefender, at sixth, whileThierry Henry (France) was the top-rankedforward, at fourth place.[3]
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Club(s) | Votes by place | Votes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |||||
| 1st | Ronaldinho | Brazil |  Barcelona | 33 | 11 | 4 | 2 | - | 50 |
| 2nd | Frank Lampard |  England | Chelsea | 6 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 45 |
| 3rd | Steven Gerrard | England | Liverpool | 8 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 39 |
| 4th | Thierry Henry |  France | Arsenal | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| 5th | Andriy Shevchenko |  Ukraine |  Milan | - | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
| 6th | Paolo Maldini | Italy | Milan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 |
| 7th | Adriano | Brazil | Internazionale | - | - | 4 | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| 8th | Zlatan Ibrahimović |  Sweden | Juventus | - | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 9th | Kaká | Brazil | Milan | - | 2 | 1 | 4 | - | 7 |
| 10th | Samuel Eto'o |  Cameroon | Barcelona | - | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 11th | John Terry | England | Chelsea | - | 1 | - | 3 | 8 | 12 |
| 12th | Juninho | Brazil | Lyon | - | - | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 13th | Claude Makélélé | France | Chelsea | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 |
| 14th | Juan Román Riquelme |  Argentina | Villarreal | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 3 |
| Petr Čech |  Czech Republic | Chelsea | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Didier Drogba |  Ivory Coast | Chelsea | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Michael Ballack |  Germany | Bayern Munich | - | - | - | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 18th | Zinedine Zidane | France | Real Madrid | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 19th | Gianluigi Buffon | Italy | Juventus | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 20th | Jamie Carragher | England | Liverpool | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo |  Portugal | Manchester United | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 22nd | Michael Essien |  Ghana | LyonChelsea | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 23rd | Luis García | Spain | Liverpool | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Pavel Nedvěd | Czech Republic | Juventus | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | |
The following 26 players were originally in contention for the 2005 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:
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| Ballon d'Or (1956–1994) (European only) |
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| Ballon d'Or (1995–2009) | |
| FIFA Ballon d'Or (2010–2015) | |
| Ballon d'Or (2016–present) | |
