2003 Ballon d'Or

2003 Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedvěd

The 2003 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 Czech midfielder Pavel Nedvěd on 22 December 2003.^[1] On 11 November 2003, was announced the shortlist of 50 male players compiled by a group of experts from France Football.^[2] 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, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales and Yugoslavia. Each picked a first (5pts), second (4pts), third (3pts), fourth (2pts) and fifth choice (1pt).^[3]

Nedvěd was the second Czech player to win the award after Josef Masopust (1962).^[1] Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) was the top ranked goalkeeper in the list, at ninth place. Paolo Maldini (Italy) was the best ranked defender in third place, while Thierry Henry (France) was the top forward, at second place.^[3]

Rankings[]

Voted players[]

Rank	Player	Nationality	Club(s)	Total	Votes by place					Votes
Rank	Player	Nationality	Club(s)	Total	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Votes
1st	Pavel Nedvěd	Czech Republic	Juventus	190	27	9	2	6	1	45
2nd	Thierry Henry	France	Arsenal	128	8	9	14	4	2	37
3rd	Paolo Maldini	Italy	Milan	123	7	13	7	4	7	38

4th	Andriy Shevchenko	Ukraine	Milan	67	3	8	3	4	3	21
5th	Zinedine Zidane	France	Real Madrid	64	4	1	5	9	7	26
6th	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Netherlands	Manchester United	61	1	4	5	11	3	24
7th	Raúl	Spain	Real Madrid	32	1	2	4	1	5	13
8th	Roberto Carlos	Brazil	Real Madrid	27	1	3	3	-	1	8
9th	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	Juventus	19	-	1	2	3	3	9
10th	David Beckham	England	Manchester United Real Madrid	17	-	2	1	2	2	7

11th	Ronaldo	Brazil	Real Madrid	11	-	-	1	2	4	7
12th	Henrik Larsson	Sweden	Celtic	6	-	-	2	-	-	2
13th	Alessandro Del Piero	Italy	Juventus	4	-	-	1	-	1	2
	Dida	Brazil	Milan	4	-	-	1	-	1	2
	Roy Makaay	Netherlands	Deportivo La Coruña Bayern Munich	4	-	-	1	-	1	2
	Alessandro Nesta	Italy	Milan	4	-	-	-	2	-	2
	Deco	Portugal	Porto	4	-	-	-	-	4	4
18th	Nihat Kahveci	Turkey	Real Sociedad	3	-	-	-	1	1	2
18th	Francesco Totti	Italy	Roma	3	-	-	-	1	1	2
20th	Michael Ballack	Germany	Bayern Munich	2	-	-	-	1	-	1
20th	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Sweden	Ajax	2	-	-	-	1	-	1
22nd	Filippo Inzaghi	Italy	Milan	1	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Jan Koller	Czech Republic	Borussia Dortmund	1	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Adrian Mutu	Romania	Parma Chelsea	1	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Ronaldinho	Brazil	Paris Saint-Germain Barcelona	1	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Francesco Toldo	Italy	Internazionale	1	-	-	-	-	1	1

Non-voted players[]

The following 24 men were originally in contention for the 2003 Ballon d’Or, but did not receive any votes:

Player	Nationality	Club(s)
Pablo Aimar	Argentina	Valencia
Sol Campbell	England	Arsenal
Iker Casillas	Spain	Real Madrid
Cristian Chivu	Romania	Ajax Roma
Samuel Eto'o	Cameroon	Mallorca
Luís Figo	Portugal	Real Madrid
Giovane Élber	Brazil	Bayern Munich Lyon
Ludovic Giuly	France	Monaco
Oliver Kahn	Germany	Bayern Munich
Patrick Kluivert	Netherlands	Barcelona
Darko Kovačević	Serbia and Montenegro	Real Sociedad
Claude Makélélé	France	Real Madrid Chelsea
Michael Owen	England	Liverpool
Pauleta	Portugal	Bordeaux Paris Saint-Germain
Robert Pires	France	Arsenal
Míchel Salgado	Spain	Real Madrid
Paul Scholes	England	Manchester United
Lilian Thuram	France	Juventus
Hatem Trabelsi	Tunisia	Ajax
David Trezeguet	France	Juventus
Patrick Vieira	France	Arsenal
Christian Vieri	Italy	Internazionale
Sylvain Wiltord	France	Arsenal
Gianluca Zambrotta	Italy	Juventus

References[]

^ ^a ^b BBC Sport staff (22 December 2003). "Nedved scoops top award". BBC Sport.
^ Leite, Augusto (11 November 2003). "Deco na corrida à Bola de Ouro" [Deco racing for the Ballon D'or]. Record (in Portuguese).
^ ^a ^b Pierrend, José (26 March 2005). "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 2003". RSSSF.

External links[]

[bbc1-1] BBC Sport staff (22 December 2003). "Nedved scoops top award". BBC Sport.

[2] Leite, Augusto (11 November 2003). "Deco na corrida à Bola de Ouro" [Deco racing for the Ballon D'or]. Record (in Portuguese).

[rsssf-3] Pierrend, José (26 March 2005). "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 2003". RSSSF.

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