FIFA World Player of the Year

This article is about the men's player of the year award from 1991 to 2009, and the women's player of the year award from 2001 to 2015. For the men's player of the year award from 2010 to 2015, see FIFA Ballon d'Or. For the men's award since 2016, see The Best FIFA Men's Player. For the women's award since 2016, see The Best FIFA Women's Player.

FIFA World Player of the Year
Ronaldo, the youngest recipient of the award aged 20, won it three times.
Presented by	FIFA
First awarded	1991
Last awarded	2009
Most awards	Zinedine Zidane Ronaldo (3 awards each)
Website	fifa.com
Related	FIFA Ballon d'Or The Best FIFA Men's Player

FIFA Women's World Player of the Year
Marta, the youngest recipient of the award aged 20, won it five times.
Presented by	FIFA
First awarded	2001
Last awarded	2015
Most awards	Marta (5 awards)
Website	fifa.com
Related	The Best FIFA Women's Player

The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representatives selected the player they deem to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.

Originally a single award for the world's best men's player, parallel awards for men and women were awarded from 2001 to 2009. The men's award was subsumed into the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 while the women's award remained until 2015. After 2015 both men's and women's awards became part of The Best FIFA Football Awards.

During the men's era, Brazilian players won 8 out of 19 years, compared to three wins – the second most – for French players. In terms of individual players, Brazil again led with five, followed by Italy and Portugal with two each.^[1][2] The youngest winner was Ronaldo, who won at 20 years old in 1996, and the oldest winner was Fabio Cannavaro, who won aged 33 in 2006.^[3][4] Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane each won the award three times, while Ronaldo and Ronaldinho were the only players to win in successive years. From 2010 to 2015, the equivalent men's award was the FIFA Ballon d'Or, following a merging of the FIFA World Player of the Year and the France Football Ballon d'Or awards.^[5][6] Since 2016, the awards have been replaced by The Best FIFA Men's Player and The Best FIFA Women's Player awards.^[7]

Eight women's footballers – three Germans, three Americans, one Brazilian, and one Japanese – have won the award. Marta, the youngest recipient at age 20 in 2006, has won five successive awards, the most of any player. Birgit Prinz won three times in a row and Mia Hamm won twice in a row. The oldest winner is Nadine Angerer, who was 35 when she won in 2013; she is also the only goalkeeper of either sex to win.

Voting and selection process

The winners are chosen by the coaches and captains of national teams as well as by international media representatives invited by FIFA.^[8] In a voting system based on positional voting, each voter is allotted three votes, worth five points, three points and one point, and the three finalists are ordered based on total number of points. Following criticism from some sections of the media over nominations in previous years, FIFA has since 2004 provided shortlists from which its voters can select their choices.^[9]

FIFA World Player of the Year

Ronaldo (left) and Zinedine Zidane (right) each won the award three times.

Year	Rank	Player	Team	Points
1991	1st	Lothar Matthäus	Inter Milan	128
	2nd	Jean-Pierre Papin	Marseille	113
	3rd	Gary Lineker	Tottenham Hotspur	40
1992	1st	Marco van Basten	Milan	166
	2nd	Hristo Stoichkov	Barcelona	88
	3rd	Thomas Häßler	Roma	61
1993	1st	Roberto Baggio	Juventus	152
	2nd	Romário[note 1]	Barcelona	84
	3rd	Dennis Bergkamp[note 2]	Inter Milan	58
1994	1st	Romário	Barcelona	346
	2nd	Hristo Stoichkov	Barcelona	100
	3rd	Roberto Baggio	Juventus	80
1995	1st	George Weah[note 3]	Milan	170
	2nd	Paolo Maldini	Milan	80
	3rd	Jürgen Klinsmann[note 4]	Bayern Munich	58
1996	1st	Ronaldo[note 5]	Barcelona	329
	2nd	George Weah	Milan	140
	3rd	Alan Shearer[note 6]	Newcastle United	123
1997	1st	Ronaldo[note 7]	Inter Milan	480
	2nd	Roberto Carlos	Real Madrid	85
	3rd	Dennis Bergkamp	Arsenal	62
		Zinedine Zidane	Juventus
1998	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Juventus	518
	2nd	Ronaldo	Inter Milan	164
	3rd	Davor Šuker	Real Madrid	108
1999	1st	Rivaldo	Barcelona	543
	2nd	David Beckham	Manchester United	194
	3rd	Gabriel Batistuta	Fiorentina	79
2000	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Juventus	370
	2nd	Luís Figo[note 8]	Real Madrid	329
	3rd	Rivaldo	Barcelona	263
2001	1st	Luís Figo	Real Madrid	250
	2nd	David Beckham	Manchester United	238
	3rd	Raúl	Real Madrid	96
2002	1st	Ronaldo[note 9]	Real Madrid	387
	2nd	Oliver Kahn	Bayern Munich	171
	3rd	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	148
2003	1st	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	264
	2nd	Thierry Henry	Arsenal	200
	3rd	Ronaldo	Real Madrid	176
2004	1st	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	620
	2nd	Thierry Henry	Arsenal	552
	3rd	Andriy Shevchenko	Milan	253
2005	1st	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	956
	2nd	Frank Lampard	Chelsea	306
	3rd	Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	190
2006	1st	Fabio Cannavaro[note 10]	Real Madrid	498
	2nd	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	454
	3rd	Ronaldinho	Barcelona	380
2007	1st	Kaká	Milan	1,047
	2nd	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	504
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	426
2008	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	935
	2nd	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	678
	3rd	Fernando Torres	Liverpool	203
2009	1st	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	1,073
	2nd	Cristiano Ronaldo[note 11]	Real Madrid	352
	3rd	Xavi	Barcelona	196

Source:^[1]

From 2010 to 2015, the award was merged with the Ballon d'Or to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or in a six-year partnership with France Football. In 2016, FIFA rebranded the award as The Best FIFA Men's Player.

A single article from the Portuguese magazine A Bola reporting about the 1992 award mentions the former award winners Lothar Matthäus in 1991, but also Diego Maradona in 1990. There is no other evidence of the award being presented by FIFA prior to 1991.^[10]

Wins by player

Player	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
Zinedine Zidane	3 (1998, 2000, 2003)	1 (2006)	2 (1997, 2002)
Ronaldo	3 (1996, 1997, 2002)	1 (1998)	1 (2003)
Ronaldinho	2 (2004, 2005)	—	1 (2006)
Lionel Messi	1 (2009)	2 (2007, 2008)	—
Cristiano Ronaldo	1 (2008)	1 (2009)	1 (2007)
Luís Figo	1 (2001)	1 (2000)	—
Romário	1 (1994)	1 (1993)	—
George Weah	1 (1995)	1 (1996)	—
Roberto Baggio	1 (1993)	—	1 (1994)
Rivaldo	1 (1999)	—	1 (2000)
Lothar Matthäus	1 (1991)	—	—
Marco van Basten	1 (1992)	—	—
Fabio Cannavaro	1 (2006)	—	—
Kaká	1 (2007)	—	—

Wins by country

Country	Players	Total
Brazil	5	8
Italy	2	2
Portugal	2	2
France	1	3
Germany	1	1
Netherlands	1	1
Liberia	1	1
Argentina	1	1

Wins by club

Club	Players	Total
Barcelona	5	6
Real Madrid	4	4
Milan	3	3
Juventus	2	3
Inter Milan	2	2
Manchester United	1	1

FIFA Women's World Player of the Year

Year	Rank	Player	Team	Points
2001	1st	Mia Hamm	Washington Freedom	154
	2nd	Sun Wen	Atlanta Beat	79
	3rd	Tiffeny Milbrett	New York Power	47
2002	1st	Mia Hamm	Washington Freedom	161
	2nd	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt Carolina Courage	96
	3rd	Sun Wen	Atlanta Beat Shanghai SVA	58
2003	1st	Birgit Prinz	Carolina Courage 1. FFC Frankfurt	268
	2nd	Mia Hamm	Washington Freedom	133
	3rd	Hanna Ljungberg	Umeå IK	84
2004	1st	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt	376
	2nd	Mia Hamm	Washington Freedom	286
	3rd	Marta	Santa Cruz Umeå IK	281
2005	1st	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt	513
	2nd	Marta	Umeå IK	429
	3rd	Shannon Boxx	Ajax America Women	235
2006	1st	Marta	Umeå IK	475
	2nd	Kristine Lilly	KIF Örebro DFF	388
	3rd	Renate Lingor	1. FFC Frankfurt	305
2007	1st	Marta	Umeå IK	988
	2nd	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt	507
	3rd	Cristiane	VfL Wolfsburg	150
2008	1st	Marta	Umeå IK	1,002
	2nd	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt	328
	3rd	Cristiane[note 12]	Corinthians	275
2009	1st	Marta[note 13]	Santos	833
	2nd	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt	290
	3rd	Kelly Smith[note 14]	Boston Breakers	252
2010	1st	Marta	FC Gold Pride	38.20%
	2nd	Birgit Prinz	1. FFC Frankfurt	15.18%
	3rd	Fatmire Bajramaj	1. FFC Turbine Potsdam	9.96%
2011	1st	Homare Sawa	INAC Kobe Leonessa	28.51%
	2nd	Marta[note 15]	Western New York Flash	17.28%
	3rd	Abby Wambach	magicJack	13.26%
2012	1st	Abby Wambach	Unattached	20.67%
	2nd	Marta	Tyresö FF	13.50%
	3rd	Alex Morgan	Seattle Sounders	10.87%
2013	1st	Nadine Angerer[note 16]	Brisbane Roar	18.85%
	2nd	Abby Wambach	Western New York Flash	15.02%
	3rd	Marta	Tyresö FF	14.02%
2014	1st	Nadine Keßler	VfL Wolfsburg	17.52%
	2nd	Marta[note 17]	FC Rosengård	14.16%
	3rd	Abby Wambach	Western New York Flash	13.33%
2015	1st	Carli Lloyd	Houston Dash	35.28%
	2nd	Célia Šašić	1. FFC Frankfurt	12.60%
	3rd	Aya Miyama	Okayama Yunogo Belle	9.88%

Birgit Prinz won the award three times.

Source:^[1]

In 2016, FIFA created The Best FIFA Women's Player award instead.

Wins by player

Player	1st	2nd	3rd
Marta	5 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)	4 (2005, 2011, 2012, 2014)	2 (2004, 2013)
Birgit Prinz	3 (2003, 2004, 2005)	5 (2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)	—
Mia Hamm	2 (2001, 2002)	2 (2003, 2004)	—
Abby Wambach	1 (2012)	1 (2013)	2 (2011, 2014)
Homare Sawa	1 (2011)	—	—
Nadine Angerer	1 (2013)	—	—
Nadine Keßler	1 (2014)	—	—
Carli Lloyd	1 (2015)	—	—

Wins by country

Country	Players	Total
Germany	3	5
Brazil	1	5
United States	3	4
Japan	1	1

Wins by club

Club	Players	Total
1. FFC Frankfurt	1	3
Umeå IK	1	3
Washington Freedom	1	2
Santos	1	1
INAC Kobe Leonessa	1	1
Brisbane Roar	1	1
VfL Wolfsburg	1	1
Houston Dash	1	1

See also

• List of sports awards honoring women
• Ballon d'Or
• FIFA Ballon d'Or
• The Best FIFA Football Awards
• FIFPRO World 11

Notes

1. Romário was signed by Barcelona from PSV Eindhoven midway through 1993.
2. Bergkamp was signed by Inter Milan from Ajax midway through 1993.
3. Weah was signed by Milan from Paris Saint-Germain midway through 1995.
4. Klinsmann was signed by Bayern Munich from Tottenham Hotspur midway through 1995.
5. Ronaldo was signed by Barcelona from PSV Eindhoven midway through 1996.
6. Shearer was signed by Newcastle United from Blackburn Rovers midway through 1996.
7. Ronaldo was signed by Inter Milan from Barcelona midway through 1997.
8. Figo was signed by Real Madrid from Barcelona midway through 2000.
9. Ronaldo was signed by Real Madrid from Inter Milan midway through 2002.
10. Cannavaro was signed by Real Madrid from Juventus midway through 2006.
11. Cristiano Ronaldo was signed by Real Madrid from Manchester United midway through 2009.
12. Cristiane was signed by Corinthians from Linköpings F.C. midway through 2008.
13. Marta was signed by Santos from Los Angeles Sol midway through 2009.
14. Smith was signed by Boston Breakers from Arsenal Ladies midway through 2009.
15. Marta was signed by Western New York Flash from Santos midway through 2011.
16. Angerer was signed by Brisbane Roar from 1. FFC Frankfurt midway through 2013.
17. Marta was signed by FC Rosengård from Tyresö FF midway through 2014.

References

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2. "FIFA Awards". RSSSF.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
3. "Brazil legend Ronaldo retires from football". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
4. "Cannavaro discusses highs and lows". Football Federation Australia. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
5. "The FIFA Ballon d'Or is born". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
6. "FIFA Ballon d'Or World Player of the Year: Award History". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
7. "The birth of The Best FIFA Football Awards". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
8. "Messi, Lloyd, Luis Enrique and Ellis triumph at FIFA Ballon d'Or 2015". FIFA. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
9. "Thirty-five stars make Zurich shortlist". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
10. "Guerin Sportivo World Player of the Year awards 1979-1986". BigSoccer Forum. Retrieved 2023-02-13.