Ballon d'Or 2004

Who is Ballon d'Or 2004?

The 2004 Ballon d'Or was delivered to the Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko on 14 December 2004. 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, second, third, fourth and fifth choice.

Andriy Shevchenko was the third Ukrainian to win the award after Oleh Blokhin and Igor Belanov. The only two goalkeepers on the list, Fabien Barthez and Petr Čech, did not receive votes. Ricardo Carvalho was the best ranked defender in the list, while Deco was the best among the midfielders.