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.

Additionally, twenty two 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.

The "Ballon d'Or", literally translated as "the golden ball" and often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award. It was presented to the player who has been voted to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. The award was conceived by France Football's chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, who asked his colleagues to vote for the player of the year in Europe in 1956. The inaugural winner was Stanley Matthews of Blackpool.

Originally, journalists could only vote for European players at European clubs, meaning that players like Diego Maradona (who played in European football clubs but is not European) and Pelé (who neither played for a European club nor is European) were ineligible for the award. In 1995, there was a change in the rules to allow non-European players to be eligible for the award if they played for a European club. The first non-European to win after the rule change was Milan's George Weah in the same year. In 2007, any player in the world became eligible, and the number of journalists allowed to vote also increased; 96 journalists from around the world chose their top five players, as opposed to the 52 Europe-based journalists in 2006.

Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979 in Chester) is an English professional footballer who is currently a free agent after being released by Manchester United in June 2012.

The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997. In his first full season in the Premier League he finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal scorer from 1997–2004, despite a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool.

Owen moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in mid-2004; he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga and had the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. He returned to England the following season, joining Newcastle United for £16 million. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. After the final season of his four-year contract, Newcastle were relegated, and Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent.

Moussa Sow (born 19 January 1986) is a French-born Senegalese football player who currently plays for Fenerbahçe in Turkey.

In his first couple of seasons, Sow has made his mark mostly in cup competitions, scoring a brace for Stade Rennes against USC Corte on 6 January 2006 in the Coupe de France and one in an away game against Lille in the Coupe de la Ligue.

After his contract with Rennes came to an end, the 24-year-old forward signed a three year deal with Lille OSC on 28 June 2010. Sow scored on his debut for Lille in a 1–1 draw away to his former club Rennes. He did not score again in the league until a 90th minute goal on 19 September gave Lille all three points in a tough home contest against Auxerre.

Sow scored his first hat-trick for Lille on 13 November 2010, the goals came in a 5-2 away victory to Caen, with both Gervinho and Franck Beria grabbing 90th minute goals to seal the win. Less than a month later on 5 December, Sow netted another hat-trick this time against Lorient. His goals helped Lille to a 6-3 win and firmly placed his side into contention for the Ligue 1 crown. Lille went into the winter break in sole position of first place, as Sow fired in their only goal in a 1-1 draw with Saint Étienne on 22 December.

Pavel Nedvěd (Czech pronunciation: [ˈpavɛl ˈnɛdvjɛt] ( listen); born 30 August 1972 in Cheb) is a retired Czech football midfielder. He is one of the most successful Czech players to emerge from the newly formed Czech Republic, winning numerous accolades with Lazio and Juventus, including the last ever Cup Winners' Cup. Widely regarded as one of the finest midfielders of the modern era, he was the recipient of the prestigious Ballon d'Or in 2003, only the second Czech player to receive this honour, and the first since the breakup of Czechoslovakia. He was also the recipient of the 2nd Golden Foot award in 2004. Nedved was a key member of the Czech Republic team, which reached the final of Euro '96, during which he garnered much international attention. He was later given the international captaincy. Well known for his energy and tireless runs, as well as his goal scoring ability, Nedved was nicknamed Furia Ceca ("The Czech Fury", an Italian wordplay on the phrase Furia Cieca, meaning "Blind Fury") by Juventus fans.