The 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or (), was the third year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The awards were given out in Zürich on 7 January 2013, with Lionel Messi winning a record fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or.
The gala ceremony was hosted by former Ballon d'Or winner Ruud Gullit and broadcast journalist Kay Murray of Real Madrid TV and Fox Soccer.
Winners and nominees
FIFA Ballon d'Or
A shortlist of 23 male players was compiled by members of FIFA's Football Committee as well as a group of experts from France Football. It was announced on 29 October 2012. There were three voters per FIFA member federation, one journalist and the coaches and captain of the national men's team. Each picked a first (5 points), second (3 points) and third choice (1 point), with their choices made public by FIFA. This was cut to a set of three "finalists" – Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo – on 29 November 2012.
The odds-on favourite Lionel Messi won the award. Messi won all three FIFA Ballons d'Or since its inception in 2010 and also won both predecessor awards (the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year) in 2009.
The results for the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or were: Rank Player National team Club(s) Percent 1st Lionel Messi Barcelona 41.60% 2nd Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 23.68% 3rd Andrés Iniesta Barcelona 10.91%
The following twenty players were also in contention for the award: Rank Player National team Club(s) Percent 4th Xavi Barcelona 4.08% 5th Radamel Falcao Atlético Madrid 3.67% 6th Iker Casillas Real Madrid 3.18% 7th Andrea Pirlo Juventus 2.66% 8th Didier Drogba Chelsea Shanghai Shenhua 2.60% 9th Robin van Persie Arsenal Manchester United 1.45% 10th Zlatan Ibrahimović Milan Paris Saint-Germain 1.24% 11th Xabi Alonso Real Madrid 1.09% 12th Yaya Touré Manchester City 0.76% 13th Neymar Santos 0.61% 14th Mesut Özil Real Madrid 0.41% 15th Wayne Rooney Manchester United 0.39% 16th Gianluigi Buffon Juventus 0.35% 17th Sergio Agüero Manchester City 0.30% 18th Sergio Ramos Real Madrid 0.22% 19th Manuel Neuer Bayern Munich 0.21% 20th Sergio Busquets Barcelona 0.20% 21st Gerard Piqué Barcelona 0.11% 22nd Karim Benzema Real Madrid 0.11% 23rd Mario Balotelli Manchester City 0.07%
FIFA Women's World Player of the Year On 25 October 2012, a ten-player shortlist was unveiled for the FIFA's Women's Player of the Year, which was chosen by experts from FIFA's Committee for Women's Football and the FIFA Women's World Cup and a group of experts from France Football.
The voting system used was the same as that of the men's award (see above), with coaches and captains of women's national teams and persons from the media making public top-three selections. Rank Player National team Club(s) Percent 1st Abby Wambach w/o club 20.67% 2nd Marta Tyresö FF 13.50% 3rd Alex Morgan Seattle Sounders 10.87%
Rank Player National team Club(s) Percent 4th Homare Sawa INAC Kobe Leonessa 10.85% 5th Christine Sinclair Western New York Flash 10.33% 6th Carli Lloyd w/o club 7.99% 7th Camille Abily Lyon 7.70% 8th Aya Miyama Yunogo Belle 7.51% 9th Miho Fukumoto Yunogo Belle 7.32% 10th Megan Rapinoe Seattle Sounders 2.89%
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football This award was decided by the same voters and system as that of the men's player award. Rank Coach Nationality Team(s) Percent 1st Vicente del Bosque 34.51% 2nd José Mourinho Real Madrid 20.49% 3rd Pep Guardiola Barcelona 12.91%
Rank Coach Nationality Team(s) Percent 4th Roberto Di Matteo Chelsea 12.02% 5th Alex Ferguson Manchester United 5.82% 6th Jürgen Klopp Borussia Dortmund 4.78% 7th Cesare Prandelli 3.34% 8th Roberto Mancini Manchester City 3.10% 9th Joachim Löw 1.15% 10th Jupp Heynckes Bayern Munich 1.00%
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football This award was decided by the same voters and system as that of the women's player award. Rank Coach Nationality Team(s) Percent 1st Pia Sundhage 28.59% 2nd Norio Sasaki 23.83% 3rd Bruno Bini 9.02%
Rank Coach Nationality Team(s) Percent 4th Patrice Lair Lyon 7.64% 5th Silvia Neid 6.48% 6th John Herdman 6.31% 7th Hiroshi Yoshida 5.75% 8th Steve Swanson 5.02% 9th Maren Meinert 3.70% 10th Hope Powell 3.29%
FIFA/FIFPro World XI
Position Player National team Club(s) GK Iker Casillas Real Madrid DF Dani Alves Barcelona DF Sergio Ramos Real Madrid DF Gerard Piqué Barcelona DF Marcelo Real Madrid MF Xavi Barcelona MF Xabi Alonso Real Madrid MF Andrés Iniesta Barcelona FW Lionel Messi Barcelona FW Radamel Falcao Atlético Madrid FW Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
This was the first occasion that all eleven FIFPro World XI players were players from the same league (La Liga).
FIFA Puskás Award The Puskás Award for best goal was decided by a public online vote. Rank Player Nationality Team Percent Notes 1st Miroslav Stoch Fenerbahçe 78% Volley into top corner of net, 3 March 2012, Turkish Süper Lig match against Gençlerbirliği 2nd Radamel Falcao Atlético Madrid 15% 3rd Neymar Santos 7%
FIFA Presidential Award Franz Beckenbauer
FIFA Fair Play Award Uzbekistan Football Federation
References
External links