Ronaldinho won the FIFA World Player of the Year award in both 2004 and 2005. The Brazilian forward and attacking midfielder became the first player to win the men's award in consecutive years since the award's earlier era of annual FIFA honors.
In 2004, Ronaldinho represented Barcelona and received 620 points in voting by national-team coaches and captains, finishing ahead of Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko. His award reflected a year in which his creativity, dribbling, close control, and ability to produce spectacular goals made him one of football's most influential players.
Ronaldinho won again in 2005, this time by a much wider margin. He collected 956 points, finishing ahead of Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Barcelona teammate Samuel Eto'o. The award is sometimes confused with the Ballon d'Or, which was a separate honor at the time. FIFA later merged its world-player award with the Ballon d'Or from 2010 through 2015, before introducing The Best FIFA Men's Player in 2016. Ronaldinho also finished third in the 2006 FIFA award.