Kaka in Winning Ballon d’Or Shock!

By: Martha | December 2nd, 2007

Yeah, it’s sweet. Yes, it’s finally official: Ricky Kaka is the best player in the world, ever, according to a group of international journalists who watch a whole lot of Champions League football. He’s got a big Golden Ball to take home, plus he gets to tour the Eiffel Tower, as a special bonus. Best weekend ever?

When the votes were tallied, Kaka had smoked the competition, finishing with 444 votes to second-place Cristiano Ronaldo’s 277 and the 255 of Lionel Messi, who finished third. Last week’s leaked top 10 list proved accurate, with Andrea Pirlo in fifth, Zlatan Ibrahimagic seventh, and Francesco Totti in tenth.

Ever-modest, Kaka told France Football that he was “expecting it a little bit,” because “I won the Champions League and was the competition’s top scorer. That’s what made the difference with the others.” Jeez. Well, I suppose that’s true and all, but a “we won the Champions League” might have been a little more gracious. Let’s blame the translation, shall we? (There are two video interviews here, if you speak French, or can hear what’s going on behind the translation.)

The ceremony is tonight in Paris, and the full list of how the 50 finalists finished is after the jump. (In case you were wondering, no one voted for David Beckham. Or, for that matter, Luca Toni.)

1. Ricardo Izecson Dos Santos Leite Kaká, 444 pts
2. Cristiano Ronaldo, 277 pts
3. Lionel Andrès Messi, 255 pts
4. Didier Drogba, 108 pts
5. Andrea Pirlo, 41 pts
6. Ruud van Nistelrooy, 39 pts.
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 31 pts.
8. Cesc Fabregas, 27 pts.
9. Robinho, 24 pts.
10. Francesco Totti, 20 pts.
11. Frédéric Kanouté, 19 pts.
12. Ronaldinho, 18 pts.
13. Steven Gerrard, 17 pts.
14. Juan Roman Riquelme, 15 pts.
15. Daniel Alves, 14 pts.
16. Filippo Inzaghi, 12 pts.
17. Franck Ribéry, 10 pts.
18. Paolo Maldini, 8 pts.
19. Gianluigi Buffon, Petr Cech, Gennaro Gattuso, Thierry Henry et Clarence Seedorf, 7 pts.
24. Fabio Cannavaro et Michael Essien, 5 pts.
26. Wayne Rooney, 4 pts.
27. Iker Casillas et Rogerio Ceni, 3 pts.
29. Younis Mahmoud, 2 pts.
30. Dimitar Berbatov, Samuel Eto’o, Ryan Giggs, Guillermo Ochoa, Carlos Tevez et Robin van Persie, 1 pt.
36. Eric Abidal, David Beckham, Deco, Mahamadou Diarra, Diego, Miroslav Klose, Florent Malouda, Shunsuke Nakamura, Ricardo Quaresma, Raul, Paul Scholes, Luca Toni, Kolo Touré, José Fernando Torres et David Villa, 0 pt.