The 2007 Ballon d'Or (), given to the best football player in the world given out by France Football and UEFA and judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded to Kaká. This was the first year in which players from clubs outside the UEFA federation were eligible for nomination; this change also led to an increase in the voting pool to include journalists from outside UEFA countries.
Kaká was the fourth Brazilian national to win the award after Ronaldo (1997, 2002), Rivaldo (1999), and Ronaldinho (2005). He was the sixth AC Milan player to win the trophy after Gianni Rivera (1969), Ruud Gullit (1987), Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992), George Weah (1995), and Andriy Shevchenko (2004).
The ceremony is notable as Kaká was the last player to win the Ballon d'Or before the Messi–Ronaldo dominance of the award. In 2018, Croatian Luka Modrić ended the 10-year dominance following his win that year.
Rankings RankPlayerNationalityClub(s)Points1Kaká AC Milan4442Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United2773Lionel Messi Barcelona2554Didier Drogba Chelsea1085Andrea Pirlo AC Milan416Ruud van Nistelrooy Real Madrid397Zlatan Ibrahimović Inter Milan318Cesc Fàbregas Arsenal279Robinho Real Madrid2410Francesco Totti Roma2011Frédéric Kanouté Sevilla1912Ronaldinho Barcelona1813Steven Gerrard Liverpool1714Juan Román Riquelme Villarreal Boca Juniors1515Dani Alves Sevilla1416Filippo Inzaghi AC Milan1217Franck Ribéry Marseille Bayern Munich1018Paolo Maldini AC Milan819Gianluigi Buffon Juventus7Petr Čech Chelsea7Gennaro Gattuso AC Milan7Thierry Henry Arsenal Barcelona7Clarence Seedorf AC Milan724Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid5Michael Essien Chelsea526Wayne Rooney Manchester United427Iker Casillas Real Madrid3Rogério Ceni São Paulo329Younis Mahmoud Al-Gharafa230Guillermo Ochoa América1Dimitar Berbatov Tottenham Hotspur1Samuel Eto'o Barcelona1Ryan Giggs Manchester United1Carlos Tevez West Ham United Manchester United1Robin van Persie Arsenal136Eric Abidal Lyon Barcelona0David Beckham Real Madrid LA Galaxy0Deco Barcelona0Mahamadou Diarra Real Madrid0Diego Werder Bremen0Miroslav Klose Werder Bremen Bayern Munich0Florent Malouda Lyon Chelsea0Shunsuke Nakamura Celtic0Ricardo Quaresma Porto0Raúl Real Madrid0Paul Scholes Manchester United0Luca Toni Bayern Munich0Kolo Touré Arsenal0Fernando Torres Atlético Madrid Liverpool0David Villa Valencia0
References
External links France Football Official Ballon d'Or page