Ballon d'Or 2004

European Footballer of the Year
Andrij Shevchenko

The 49th Ballon d'Or ( French for Golden Ball ) of the magazine France Football awarded Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan from European Footballer of 2004. The prize was awarded by a jury made up of sports journalists from UEFA's 52 member associations .

After Oleg Blochin ( 1975 ) and Igor Belanov ( 1986 ) Andrij Shevchenko became the third Ukrainian to win the coveted Golden Ball. For the third time in a row won by a player from the Italian League Serie A . AC Milan's Shevchenko prevailed over two FC Barcelona players. Shevchenko (top scorer with 24 league goals in Italy) won the 49th election with 175 points ahead of Portuguese Deco ( FC Porto and FC Barcelona - 139 points) and Brazilian Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona - 133), succeeding the Czech Pavel Nedvěd ( Juventus Turin ). The Ukrainian was able to save his outstanding form in the new round of the game: In the season so far up to the election, he has already scored eleven times in Serie A and three times in the Champions League.

There was no German among the 50 players available for election. Franz Beckenbauer therefore criticized the preselection: Despite the early elimination from the European Championships in Portugal and the unsuccessful European Cup last season, it did not reflect the true level of performance in German football. During the vote, Angelos Charisteas from the German champions Werder Bremen was the only representative of the Bundesliga to receive points from the jurors. The Greek European champion received 15 votes, while Johan Micoud (also Werder Bremen) went as empty as Aílton ( FC Schalke 04 ) and Tomáš Rosický ( Borussia Dortmund ).

The election of Monday, December 13, 2004 :

1. Andrij Shevchenko ( Ukraine / AC Milan ) 175 points
2. Deco ( Portugal / FC Porto / FC Barcelona ) 139
3. Ronaldinho ( Brazil / FC Barcelona ) 133
4. Thierry Henry ( France / Arsenal FC ) 80
5. Theodoros Zagorakis ( Greece / AEK Athens / FC Bologna ) 44
6. Adriano ( Brazil / Inter Milan ) 27
7. Pavel Nedvěd ( Czech Republic / Juventus Turin ) 23
8. Wayne Rooney ( England / Everton FC / Manchester United ) 22
9. Ricardo Carvalho ( Portugal / FC Porto / Chelsea London ) and Ruud van Nistelrooy ( Netherlands / Manchester United ) both 18