Ballon d'Or 2007
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. This was the first year in which players from clubs outside of the UEFA federation could be eligible for nomination, this change also lead to an increase in the voting pool to include journalists from outside UEFA countries.
Kaká was the fourth Brazilian national to win the award after Ronaldo (1997, 2002), Rivaldo (1999), and Ronaldinho (2005). He was the sixth AC 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).
Rankings
Additionally, the following fifteen players were nominated but received no votes: Éric Abidal (Lyon, Barcelona), David Beckham (Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy), Deco (Barcelona), Mahamadou Diarra (Real Madrid), Diego (Werder Bremen), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich), Florent Malouda (Lyon, Chelsea), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Ricardo Quaresma (Porto), Raúl (Real Madrid), Paul Scholes (Manchester United), Luca Toni (Fiorentina, Bayern Munich), Kolo Touré (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Atlético Madrid, Liverpool), and David Villa (Valencia).
