The 2004 Ballon d'Or (), given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was delivered to the Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko on 13 December 2004.
Andriy Shevchenko was the third Ukrainian to win the award after Oleh Blokhin (1975) and Igor Belanov (1986). He finished top goalscorer in the 2003–04 Serie A, scoring 24 goals in 32 matches, as his team won the league title. The best ranked goalkeeper on the list was Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) with a 17th place (jointly with Traianos Dellas, Fernando Morientes, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba). Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal) was the top ranked defender in the list, at ninth, while Deco (Portugal) was the top ranked midfielder at second place.
Rankings On 9 November 2004, was announced the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts from France Football.
There were 52 voters, from Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-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, 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).
Voted players Rank Player Nationality Club(s) Total Votes by place Votes 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th1stAndriy Shevchenko Milan175275521402ndDeco Porto Barcelona1391013942383rdRonaldinho Barcelona133913747404thThierry Henry Arsenal80366103285thTheodoros Zagorakis AEK Athens Bologna4432336176thAdriano Parma Internazionale27 -3225127thPavel Nedvěd Juventus23 - -443118thWayne Rooney Everton22 -1325119thRicardo Carvalho Porto Chelsea18 -222 -6Ruud van Nistelrooy Manchester United18 - -422811thAngelos Charisteas Werder Bremen15 -1124812thCristiano Ronaldo Manchester United11 -112 -4Milan Baroš Liverpool11 -1 -31514thZlatan Ibrahimović Ajax Juventus8 - - -32515thSamuel Eto'o Mallorca Barcelona7 - 11 - -2Kaká Milan7 -1 -11317thTraianos Dellas Roma5 -1 - -12Fernando Morientes Monaco Real Madrid5 -1 - -12Frank Lampard Chelsea5 - -11 -2Didier Drogba Marseille Chelsea5 - -1 -23Gianluigi Buffon Juventus5 - -1 -2322ndLuís Figo Real Madrid4 - - -2 -223rdZinedine Zidane Real Madrid3 - -1 - -124thRubén Baraja Valencia2 - - -1 -1Ludovic Giuly Monaco Barcelona2 - - -1 -1Maniche Porto2 - - -1 -1Antonios Nikopolidis Panathinaikos Olympiacos2 - - - -2228thPaolo Maldini Milan1 - - - -11Vicente Valencia1 - - - -11
Non-voted players The following 21 players were originally in contention for the 2004 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes: Player Nationality Club(s)Aílton Werder Bremen Schalke 04Roberto Ayala ValenciaFabien Barthez Manchester United MarseilleDavid Beckham Real MadridPetr Čech ChelseaEmerson Roma JuventusJuninho LyonMichalis Kapsis AEK Athens BordeauxHenrik Larsson Celtic BarcelonaJohan Micoud Werder BremenMista ValenciaAlessandro Nesta MilanAndrea Pirlo MilanJosé Antonio Reyes Sevilla ArsenalRonaldo Real MadridDjibril Cissé Auxerre LiverpoolPaul Scholes Manchester UnitedClarence Seedorf MilanGiourkas Seitaridis Panathinaikos PortoFrancesco Totti RomaPatrick Vieira Arsenal
References
External links France Football Official website Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation - "Ballon d'Or" 2004 voting results