Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were the favourites amongst England's seven nominations on the shortlist for the prestigious award and they finished second and third respectively behind Ronaldinho.

They were joined by John Terry, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham.

Barcelona forward Ronaldinho was widely tipped to lift the Ballon D'Or, having already won the 2004 Fifa World Player of the Year and the inaugural FIFpro award, and he turned out to be the winner.

The Ballon D'Or is commonly accepted to be the highest accolade available to a player at a European club and was won last year by AC Milan and Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko. 

Ronaldinho became the third Brazilian to win the award for performances with Barcelona, after Ronaldo in 1997 and Rivaldo in 1999.

The award is celebrating its 50th anniversary and previous British winners include the Manchester United trio Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best, in 1964, 1966 and 1968 respectively.

Kevin Keegan won in 1978 and 1979 and Michael Owen was the last English winner, for his displays for Liverpool in 2001.

This year's nominees:

Country 

Total

Players

Brazil

10

Adriano, Cris, Dida, Emerson, Juninho, Kaka, Roberto Carlos, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo

England

7

Lampard, Terry, Carragher, Owen, Rooney, Beckham, Gerrard

France

7

Zidane, Henry, Coupet, Makelele, Vieira, Giuly, Thuram

Italy

5

Buffon, Pirlo, Maldini, Cannavaro, Camoranesi

Holland

4

Van Bommel, Makaay, Van Nistelrooy, Robben

Spain

3

Xavi, Raul, Luis Garcia

Portugal

3

Ronaldo, Deco, Figo

Czech Republic

2

Cech, Nedved

Germany

1

Ballack

Sweden

1

Ibrahimovic

Cameroon

1

Eto'o

Uruguay

1

Forlan

Ivory Coast

1

Drogba

Ghana

1

Essien

Ukraine

1

Shevchenko

South Korea

1

Park Ji-sung

Argentina

1

Juan Roman Riquelme



Previous winners:
1956 Stanley MATTHEWS (Eng) Blackpool
1957 Alfredo DI STÉFANO (Spa [*]) Real Madrid
1958 Raymond KOPA (Fra) Real Madrid
1959 Alfredo DI STÉFANO (Spa [*]) Real Madrid
1960 Luis SUÁREZ (Spa) Barcelona
1961 Omar SIVORI (Ita [*]) Juventus
1962 Josef MASOPUST (Cze) Dukla Praha
1963 Lev YASHIN (SU) Dynamo Moskva
1964 Denis LAW (Sco) Manchester United
1965 EUSÉBIO (Por) Benfica
1966 Bobby CHARLTON (Eng) Manchester United
1967 Flórián ALBERT (Hun) Ferencváros
1968 George BEST (Nil) Manchester United
1969 Gianni RIVERA (Ita) Milan
1970 Gerd MÜLLER (Ger) Bayern München
1971 Johan CRUIJFF (Net) Ajax
1972 Franz BECKENBAUER (Ger) Bayern München
1973 Johan CRUIJFF (Net) Barcelona
1974 Johan CRUIJFF (Net) Barcelona
1975 Oleg BLOKHIN (SU) Dynamo Kiev
1976 Franz BECKENBAUER (Ger) Bayern München
1977 Alan SIMONSEN (Den) Borussia Mönchengladbach
1978 Kevin KEEGAN (Eng) Hamburger SV
1979 Kevin KEEGAN (Eng) Hamburger SV
1980 Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE (Ger) Bayern München
1981 Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE (Ger) Bayern München
1982 Paolo ROSSI (Ita) Juventus
1983 Michel PLATINI (Fra) Juventus
1984 Michel PLATINI (Fra) Juventus
1985 Michel PLATINI (Fra) Juventus
1986 Igor BELANOV (SU) Dynamo Kiev
1987 Ruud GULLIT (Net) Milan
1988 Marco VAN BASTEN (Net) Milan
1989 Marco VAN BASTEN (Net) Milan
1990 Lothar MATTHÄUS (Ger) Internazionale
1991 Jean-Pierre PAPIN (Fra) Olympique Marseille
1992 Marco VAN BASTEN (Net) Milan
1993 Roberto BAGGIO (Ita) Juventus
1994 Hristo STOITCHKOV (Bul) Barcelona
1995 George WEAH (Lib) Milan
1996 Matthias SAMMER (Ger) Borussia Dortmund
1997 RONALDO (Bra) Internazionale
1998 Zinedine ZIDANE (Fra) Juventus
1999 RIVALDO (Bra) Barcelona
2000 Luis FIGO (Por) Real Madrid
2001 Michael OWEN (Eng) Liverpool
2002 RONALDO (Bra) Real Madrid
2003 PAVEL Nedved (Cze) Juventus
2004 ANDRIY Shevchenko (Ukr) AC Milan
[*] Di Stéfano and Sivori were born in Argentina and first played for that country.