The nominees in numbers - FIFA BALLON D'OR 2015
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16 UEFA Champions League goals plundered by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2015 is a record for a calendar year. The Real Madrid man achieved this feat in part due to a stunning start to the 2015/16 campaign, grabbing 11 goals in six group matches, itself a record for the pool stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
6 goals scored in 5 finals was the figure that Lionel Messi finished 2015 on, after his goal in the FIFA Club World Cup final. Despite not netting in the UEFA Champions League decider in June, his doubles in the UEFA Super Cup and Copa Del Rey finales as well as his single goals in the Spanish Supercup final and global showpiece in Japan mean he has now scored 24 goals in 28 finals in his Barcelona career to date.
2continental finals won by Neymar saw him join an elite list of players to have lifted the Copa Libertadores and UEFA Champions League trophies. However, his goal in June’s final saw him create a record of his own, becoming the first player to score in and win the final of both tournaments.
13 minutes between Carli Lloyd’s first and third goal in the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ Final that saw her enter the history books for a number of reasons. Almost half a century after Geoff Hurst scored the first treble in a senior global finale, Lloyd joined this exclusive club with her remarkable performance in Vancouver, achieving the feat a full 89 minutes quicker. Her first goal, in the third minute, was also the fastest ever scored in a Women’s World Cup final.
3AFC Women’s Footballer of the Year titles won by Aya Miyama is the new record set by the Nadeshiko captain, after adding the 2015 crown to her 2011 and 2012 individual titles. She was recognised after leading her country to a second consecutive final in her fourth Women’s World Cup in a row, this time falling at the final hurdle to a Lloyd-inspired USA after her 2011 success.
6goals in 553 Women’s World Cup minutes saw Celia Sasic claim the adidas Golden Boot at Canada 2015 ahead of Lloyd, who grabbed the same number of goals but in more time on the pitch. The German’s impressive ratio of a goal every 92 minutes saw her bow out of the game on a high.
10 consecutive games won at the beginning of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season, a new record for the German top flight, saw Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich continue their dominance of German football. Their 2014/15 title win, a record-equalling third in a row, saw them finish ten points clear of nearest challengers Wolfsburg.
5 trophies were won by Luis Enrique in his first full calendar year in charge of Barcelona. After repeating the same feat as Pep Guardiola before him, namely winning the treble of La Liga, Copa Del Rey and UEFA Champions League in his first season with the Catalan giants, he also secured the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup at the beginning of the 2015/16 campaign.
99 years after Chile first played in the inaugural South American championship, Jorge Sampaoli led La Roja to their first continental title, securing the 2015 Copa America title as hosts by beating Sampaoli’s home nation, Argentina.
3Women’s World Cups have been won by the USA, after Jill Ellis steered the Stars and Stripes to their first title in 16 years. The England-born coach kept up the Americans’ record of reaching the semi-finals in every edition to date, before sealing their record-breaking third title with victory over Japan in the final.
25years after England last reached the last four of a global finals, the Lionesses did so under the guidance of Mark Sampson at Canada 2015. The women also went one better than their male counterparts had at the 1990 FIFA World Cup™, securing a third-place finish by beating Germany and in the process recording England’s best performance at any global tournament since the 1966 World Cup.
9 Women’s World Cup games without defeat was the run brought to an end by USA in Canada 2015’s final for Japan coach Norio Sasaki. The 2011 FIFA Coach of the Year for Women’s Football steered the side to a second consecutive final with victory in every game of last year’s tournament leading up to the decider.