The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best international player from the previous year. Between 2010 and 2015 the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA Player of the Year awards were merged to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Below are the nominees in the final order after voting for the 2011 award. The winner was Lionel Messi again, his third consecutive Ballon d'Or. It was also the third year in a row that Xavi had finished third.

A brass medal A brass medal sold at auction purportedly presented to Pelé commemorating the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony

See the list of all Ballon d'Or winners.

Final order for the men's 2011 Ballon d'Or

Order Player Club Nationality Percent
1 Lionel Messi Barcelona Argentina 47.88
2 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Portugal 21.6
3 Xavi Barcelona Spain 9.23
4 Andrés Iniesta Barcelona Spain 6.01
5 Wayne Rooney Manchester United England 2.31
6 Luis Suárez Ajax / Liverpool Uruguay 1.48
7 Diego Forlán Atlético Madrid / Internazionale Uruguay 1.43
8 Samuel Eto'o Internazionale /  Anzhi Makhachkala Cameroon 1.34
9 Iker Casillas Real Madrid Spain 1.29
10 Neymar Santos Brazil 1.12
11 Mesut Özil Real Madrid Germany 0.76
12 Wesley Sneijder Internazionale Netherlands 0.72
13 Thomas Müller Bayern Munich Germany 0.64
14 David Villa Barcelona Spain 0.53
15 Bastian Schweinsteiger Bayern Munich Germany 0.50
16 Xabi Alonso Real Madrid Spain 0.48
17 Sergio Agüero Atlético Madrid Argentina 0.48
18 Eric Abidal Barcelona France 0.36
19 Dani Alves Barcelona Brazil 0.34
20 Karim Benzema Real Madrid France 0.34
21 Cesc Fàbregas Arsenal / Barcelona Spain 0.29
22 Nani Manchester United Portugal 0.26
23 Gerard Piqué Barcelona Spain 0.22