The 2007 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in the world as judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded to Kaká.[1][2] 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.[3]

2007 Ballon d'Or
2007 Ballon d'Or winner Kaká
Date2 December 2007 (2007-12-02)
LocationParis, France
CountryFrance
Presented byFrance Football
Highlights
Won byBrazil Kaká (1st award)
Websitewww.francefootball.fr
← 2006 · Ballon d'Or · 2008 →

Kaká was the fourth Brazilian national to win the award after Ronaldo (1997, 2002), Rivaldo (1999), and Ronaldinho (2005). He was the sixth 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

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Rank Player Nationality Club(s) Points
1 Kaká   Brazil   Milan 445
2 Cristiano Ronaldo   Portugal   Manchester United 277
3 Lionel Messi   Argentina   Barcelona 255
4 Didier Drogba   Ivory Coast   Chelsea 108
5 Andrea Pirlo   Italy   Milan 41
6 Ruud van Nistelrooy   Netherlands   Real Madrid 39
7 Zlatan Ibrahimović   Sweden   Internazionale 31
8 Cesc Fàbregas   Spain   Arsenal 27
9 Robinho   Brazil   Real Madrid 24
10 Francesco Totti   Italy   Roma 20
11 Frédéric Kanouté   Mali   Sevilla 19
12 Ronaldinho   Brazil   Barcelona 18
13 Steven Gerrard   England   Liverpool 17
14 Juan Román Riquelme   Argentina   Villarreal
  Boca Juniors
15
15 Dani Alves   Brazil   Sevilla 14
16 Filippo Inzaghi   Italy   Milan 12
17 Franck Ribéry   France   Marseille
  Bayern Munich
10
18 Paolo Maldini   Italy   Milan 8
19 Gianluigi Buffon   Italy   Juventus 7
Petr Čech   Czech Republic   Chelsea 7
Gennaro Gattuso   Italy   Milan 7
Thierry Henry   France   Arsenal
  Barcelona
7
Clarence Seedorf   Netherlands   Milan 7
24 Fabio Cannavaro   Italy   Real Madrid 5
Michael Essien   Ghana   Chelsea 5
26 Wayne Rooney   England   Manchester United 4
27 Iker Casillas   Spain   Real Madrid 3
Rogério Ceni   Brazil   São Paulo 3
29 Younis Mahmoud   Iraq   Al-Gharafa 2
30 Guillermo Ochoa   Mexico   América 1
Dimitar Berbatov   Bulgaria   Tottenham Hotspur 1
Samuel Eto'o   Cameroon   Barcelona 1
Ryan Giggs   Wales   Manchester United 1
Carlos Tevez   Argentina   West Ham United
  Manchester United
1
Robin van Persie   Netherlands   Arsenal 1
36 Eric Abidal   France   Lyon
  Barcelona
0
David Beckham   England   Real Madrid
  LA Galaxy
0
Deco   Portugal   Barcelona 0
Mahamadou Diarra   Mali   Real Madrid 0
Diego   Brazil   Werder Bremen 0
Miroslav Klose   Germany   Werder Bremen
  Bayern Munich
0
Florent Malouda   France   Lyon
  Chelsea
0
Shunsuke Nakamura   Japan   Celtic 0
Ricardo Quaresma   Portugal   Porto 0
Raúl   Spain   Real Madrid 0
Paul Scholes   England   Manchester United 0
Luca Toni   Italy   Bayern Munich 0
Kolo Touré   Ivory Coast   Arsenal 0
Fernando Torres   Spain   Atlético Madrid
  Liverpool
0
David Villa   Spain   Valencia 0

References

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  1. ^ "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 2007". RSSSF. 9 October 2008. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  2. ^ "Kakà, King of the World". France Football. 2 December 2007. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  3. ^ "Kaka wins 2007 award". BBC Sport. 1 December 2008. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
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