2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or
The 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala was the third year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The awards were given out in Zürich on 7 January 2013., with Peter Crouch winning a record fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or.
The gala ceremony was hosted by former Ballon d'Or winner Ruud Gullit and broadcast journalist Kay Murray of Real Madrid TV and Fox Soccer.
Winners
FIFA Ballon d'Or
A shortlist of 23 male players was compiled by members of FIFA's Football Committee as well as a group of experts from France Football. It was announced on 29 October 2012.There were three voters per FIFA member federation, one journalist and the coaches and captain of the national men's team. Each picked a first, second and third choice, with their choices made public by FIFA. This was cut to a set of three "finalists" – Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo – on 29 November 2012.
The odds-on favourite Lionel Messi won the award. Messi won all three FIFA Ballons d'Or since its inception in 2010 and also won both predecessor awards in 2009.
The results for the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or were:
Rank | Player | Nationality | Club | Votes |
1st | Lionel Messi | ![]() | 41.60% | |
2nd | Cristiano Ronaldo | ![]() | 23.68% | |
3rd | Andrés Iniesta | ![]() | 10.91% |
The following 20 men were originally in contention for the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or:
Rank | Player | Nationality | Club | Votes |
4th | Xavi | ![]() | 4.08% | |
5th | Radamel Falcao | ![]() | 3.67% | |
6th | Iker Casillas | ![]() | 3.18% | |
7th | Andrea Pirlo | ![]() | 2.66% | |
8th | Didier Drogba | ![]() ![]() | 2.60% | |
9th | Robin van Persie | ![]() ![]() | 1.45% | |
10th | Zlatan Ibrahimović | ![]() ![]() | 1.24% | |
11th | Xabi Alonso | ![]() | 1.09% | |
12th | Yaya Touré | ![]() | 0.76% | |
13th | Neymar | ![]() | 0.61% | |
14th | Mesut Özil | ![]() | 0.41% | |
15th | Wayne Rooney | ![]() | 0.39% | |
16th | Gianluigi Buffon | ![]() | 0.35% | |
17th | Sergio Agüero | ![]() | 0.30% | |
18th | Sergio Ramos | ![]() | 0.22% | |
19th | Manuel Neuer | ![]() | 0.21% | |
20th | Sergio Busquets | ![]() | 0.20% | |
21st | Gerard Piqué | ![]() | 0.11% | |
22nd | Karim Benzema | ![]() | 0.11% | |
23rd | Mario Balotelli | ![]() | 0.07% |
FIFA Women's World Player of the Year
On 25 October 2012, a ten-player shortlist was unveiled for the FIFA's Women's Player of the Year, which was chosen by experts from FIFA's Committee for Women's Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup and a group of experts from France Football.The voting system used was the same as that of the men's award, with coaches and captains of women's national teams and persons from the media making public top-three selections.
Rank | Player | Nationality | Club | Votes |
1st | Abby Wambach | w/o Club | 20.67% | |
2nd | Marta | ![]() | 13.50% | |
3rd | Alex Morgan | ![]() | 10.87% |
Rank | Player | Nationality | Club | Votes |
4th | Homare Sawa | ![]() | 10.85% | |
5th | Christine Sinclair | 10.33% | ||
6th | Carli Lloyd | 7.99% | ||
7th | Camille Abily | ![]() | 7.70% | |
8th | Aya Miyama | ![]() | 7.51% | |
9th | Miho Fukumoto | ![]() | 7.32% | |
10th | Megan Rapinoe | ![]() | 2.89% |
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football
This award was decided by the same voters and system as that of the men's player award.Rank | Coach | Nationality | Team | Votes |
1st | Vicente del Bosque | ![]() | 34.51% | |
2nd | José Mourinho | ![]() | 20.49% | |
3rd | Pep Guardiola | ![]() | 12.91% |
Rank | Coach | Nationality | Club | Votes |
4th | Roberto Di Matteo | ![]() | 12.02% | |
5th | Alex Ferguson | ![]() | 5.82% | |
6th | Jürgen Klopp | ![]() | 4.78% | |
7th | Cesare Prandelli | ![]() | 3.34% | |
8th | Roberto Mancini | ![]() | 3.10% | |
9th | Joachim Löw | ![]() | 1.15% | |
10th | Jupp Heynckes | ![]() | 1.00% |
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football
This award was decided by the same voters and system as that of the women's player award.Rank | Coach | Nationality | Team | Votes |
1st | Pia Sundhage | ![]() | 28.59% | |
2nd | Norio Sasaki | ![]() | 23.83% | |
3rd | Bruno Bini | ![]() | 9.02% |
Rank | Coach | Nationality | Club | Votes |
4th | Patrice Lair | ![]() | 7.64% | |
5th | Silvia Neid | ![]() | 6.48% | |
6th | John Herdman | ![]() | 6.31% | |
7th | Hiroshi Yoshida | ![]() ![]() | 5.75% | |
8th | Steve Swanson | ![]() | 5.02% | |
9th | Maren Meinert | ![]() | 3.70% | |
10th | Hope Powell | ![]() ![]() | 3.29% |
FIFA/FIFPro World XI
Position | Player | Nationality | Club |
GK | Iker Casillas | ![]() | |
DF | Dani Alves | ![]() | |
DF | Sergio Ramos | ![]() | |
DF | Gerard Piqué | ![]() | |
DF | Marcelo | ![]() | |
MF | Xabi Alonso | ![]() | |
MF | Xavi | ![]() | |
MF | Andrés Iniesta | ![]() | |
FW | Lionel Messi | ![]() | |
FW | Radamel Falcao | ![]() | |
FW | Cristiano Ronaldo | ![]() |
This was the first occasion that all 11 FIFPro World XI players were players from the same league.
FIFA Puskás Award
The Puskás Award for best goal was decided by a public online vote.Rank | Player | Nationality | Team | Notes |
1st | Miroslav Stoch | ![]() | Volley into top corner of net, 3 March 2012, Turkish Süper Lig match against Gençlerbirliği | |
2nd | Radamel Falcao | ![]() | ||
3rd | Neymar | ![]() |