# 2006 Ballon d'Or

The 2006 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to the Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro on 27 November 2006. On 16 October 2006, 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 and 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, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales. Each picked a first (5pts), second (4pts), third (3pts), fourth (2pts) and fifth choice (1pt).
Fabio Cannavaro is the most recent defender to have won the award as well as the last Italian player to have won it as of 2024.

## Rankings
### Voted players

| Rank | Player | Nationality | Club(s) | Total | Votes by place | Votes by place | Votes by place | Votes by place | Votes by place | Votes |
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Club(s) | Total | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Votes |
| 1st | Fabio Cannavaro | Italy | Juventus Real Madrid | 173 | 20 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 42 |
| 2nd | Gianluigi Buffon | Italy | Juventus | 124 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 32 |
| 3rd | Thierry Henry | France | Arsenal | 121 | 6 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 36 |
| 4th | Ronaldinho | Brazil | Barcelona | 73 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 28 |
| 5th | Zinedine Zidane | France | Real Madrid | 71 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 22 |
| 6th | Samuel Eto'o | Cameroon | Barcelona | 67 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 26 |
| 7th | Miroslav Klose | Germany | Werder Bremen | 29 | - | 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 8th | Didier Drogba | Ivory Coast | Chelsea | 25 | - | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| 9th | Andrea Pirlo | Italy | Milan | 17 | - | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 10th | Jens Lehmann | Germany | Arsenal | 13 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 |
| 11th | Deco | Portugal | Barcelona | 11 | - | - | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 11th | Kaká | Brazil | Milan | 11 | - | - | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 13th | Franck Ribéry | France | Marseille | 9 | - | 1 | - | - | 5 | 6 |
| 14th | Gennaro Gattuso | Italy | Milan | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 14th | Patrick Vieira | France | Juventus Internazionale | 5 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 9 |
| 14th | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | Manchester United | 5 | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | 3 |
| 17th | Frank Lampard | England | Chelsea | 3 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| 17th | Lukas Podolski | Germany | 1. FC Köln Bayern Munich | 3 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| 17th | Carles Puyol | Spain | Barcelona | 3 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
| 20th | Juninho | Brazil | Lyon | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 20th | Lionel Messi | Argentina | Barcelona | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 20th | Luca Toni | Italy | Fiorentina | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 20th | John Terry | England | Chelsea | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| 20th | Gianluca Zambrotta | Italy | Juventus Barcelona | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| 25th | Philipp Lahm | Germany | Bayern Munich | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| 25th | David Villa | Spain | Valencia | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |

### Non-voted players

The following 24 players were originally in contention for the 2006 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:
| Player | Nationality | Club(s) |
| Michael Ballack | Germany | Bayern Munich Chelsea |
| Tim Cahill | Australia | Everton |
| Joe Cole | England | Chelsea |
| Grégory Coupet | France | Lyon |
| Cris | Brazil | Lyon |
| Mahamadou Diarra | Mali | Real Madrid |
| Michael Essien | Ghana | Chelsea |
| Cesc Fàbregas | Spain | Arsenal |
| William Gallas | France | Chelsea Arsenal |
| Steven Gerrard | England | Liverpool |
| Ludovic Giuly | France | Barcelona |
| Fabio Grosso | Italy | Palermo Internazionale |
| Claude Makélélé | France | Chelsea |
| Florent Malouda | France | Lyon |
| Édison Méndez | Ecuador | LDU Quito PSV Eindhoven |
| Juan Román Riquelme | Argentina | Villarreal |
| Arjen Robben | Netherlands | Chelsea |
| Wayne Rooney | England | Manchester United |
| Willy Sagnol | France | Bayern Munich |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | Germany | Bayern Munich |
| Andriy Shevchenko | Ukraine | Milan Chelsea |
| Lilian Thuram | France | Juventus Barcelona |
| Tiago | Portugal | Lyon |
| Fernando Torres | Spain | Atlético Madrid |