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The 2001 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 Michael Owen on 18 December 2001.
Owen was the fourth English national to win the award after Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979). He was also the first Liverpool player to win the trophy.
Rankings
Additionally, 22 players were nominated but received no votes: Sonny Anderson, Fabien Barthez, Gabriel Batistuta, Gianluigi Buffon, Cafu, Vincent Candela, Alessandro Del Piero, Marcel Desailly, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Iván Helguera, Harry Kewell, Patrick Kluivert, Samuel Kuffour, Hidetoshi Nakata, Pavel Nedvěd, Pauleta, Robert Pirès, Paul Scholes, Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira.