2006 Ballon d'Or
Annual association football award event in France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2006 Ballon d'Or (lit. '2006 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 Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro on 27 November 2006.[1]
| 2006 Ballon d'Or | |
|---|---|
2006 Ballon d'Or winner, Fabio Cannavaro in 2017 | |
| Date | 27 November 2006 |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Country | France |
| Presented by | France Football |
| Highlights | |
Won by |  Fabio Cannavaro (1st award) |
| Website | ballondor |
Fabio Cannavaro is the most recent defender to have won the award as well as the last Italian player to have won it as of 2026.
Rankings
On 16 October 2006, was announced the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts from France Football.[2][3]
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).[4]
Voted players
Non-voted players
The following 24 players were originally in contention for the 2006 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:
