2003 Ballon d'Or
Annual association football award event in France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2003 Ballon d'Or (lit. '2003 Golden Ball'), given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to the Czech midfielder Pavel Nedvěd on 22 December 2003.[1]
| 2003 Ballon d'Or | |
|---|---|
2003 Ballon d'Or winner, Pavel Nedvěd | |
| Date | 22 December 2003 |
| Presented by | France Football |
| Highlights | |
| Won by |  Pavel Nedvěd (1st award) |
| Website | ballondor |
Nedvěd was the second Czech player to win the award after Josef Masopust (1962).[1] Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) was the top ranked goalkeeper in the list, in ninth place. Paolo Maldini (Italy) was the best ranked defender in third place, while Thierry Henry (France) was the top forward, in second place.[2]
Rankings
On 11 November 2003, the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts from France Football was announced.[3][4][5]
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, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales and Yugoslavia. Each picked a first (5pts), second (4pts), third (3pts), fourth (2pts) and fifth choice (1pt).[2]
Voted players
Non-voted players
The following 24 men were originally in contention for the 2003 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:
