The 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award was won by Brazilian Ronaldinho for the first time; Thierry Henry finished second for the second year in succession. It was the award's 14th edition. The award ceremony took place on the evening of December 20, 2004, and was held at the Zurich Opera House in Zurich, Switzerland. There were 157 coaches and 145 captains selected for the voting process, totaling 302 votes.
Birgit Prinz won the women's award for the second time, for the second year in succession. The 2-time award winner Mia Hamm also finished second for the second year in succession. For the women's side, there were 114 coaches and 109 captains selected for the voting process, totaling 223 votes.!!Player!!Points!!Club(s)
|-
|1
| Ronaldinho
|620
| Barcelona
|-
|2
| Thierry Henry
|552
| Arsenal
|-
|3
| Andriy Shevchenko
|253
| Milan
|-
|4
| Pavel Nedvěd
|178
| Juventus
|-
|5
| Zinedine Zidane
|150
| Real Madrid
|-
|6
| Adriano
|98
| Internazionale
|-
|7=
| Deco
|96
| Barcelona<br /> Porto
|-
|7=
| Ronaldo
|96
| Real Madrid
|-
|9
| Ruud van Nistelrooy
|67
| Manchester United
|-
|10=
| Kaká
|64
| Milan
|-
|10=
| Wayne Rooney
|64
| Everton<br /> Manchester United
|-
|12
| Didier Drogba
|46
| Marseille<br /> Chelsea
|-
|13
| Cristiano Ronaldo
|45
| Manchester United
|-
|14
| Samuel Eto'o
|42
| Mallorca<br /> Barcelona
|-
|15=
| Luís Figo
|35
| Real Madrid
|-
|15=
| David Beckham
|35
| Real Madrid
|-
|17=
| Raúl
|25
| Real Madrid
|-
|17=
| Theodoros Zagorakis
|25
| AEK Athens<br /> Bologna
|-
|19
| Roberto Ayala
|24
| Valencia
|-
|20
| Michael Owen
|22
| Liverpool<br /> Real Madrid
|-
|21=
| Roberto Carlos
|19
| Real Madrid
|-
|21=
| Paolo Maldini
|19
| Milan
|-
|21=
| Gianluigi Buffon
|19
| Juventus
|-
|24
| Roy Makaay
|17
| Bayern Munich
|-
|25
| Robert Pires
|15
| Arsenal
|-
|26
| Frank Lampard
|13
| Chelsea
|-
|27
| Cafu
|10
| Milan
|-
|28=
| Michael Ballack
|9
| Bayern Munich
|-
|28=
| Milan Baroš
|9
| Liverpool
|-
|30=
| Zlatan Ibrahimović
|7
| Ajax<br /> Juventus
|-
|30=
| Henrik Larsson
|7
| Celtic<br /> Barcelona
|-
|32=
| Ryan Giggs
|6
| align="left" | Manchester United
|-
|32=
| Alessandro Nesta
|6
| align="left" | Milan
|-
|34
| align="left" | Steven Gerrard
|5
| align="left" | Liverpool
|-
|35
| align="left" | Oliver Kahn
|4
| align="left" | Bayern Munich
|}
Women
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
!Rank!!Player!!Club(s)!!Points
|-
| 1 || Birgit Prinz || FFC Frankfurt || 376
|-
| 2 || Mia Hamm || || 286
|-
| 3 || Marta || Santa Cruz<br> Umeå IK || 281
|-
| 4 || Abby Wambach || || 126
|-
| 5 || Kristine Lilly || Boston Breakers || 109
|-
| 5 || Hanna Ljungberg || Umeå IK || 109
|-
| 7 || Shannon Boxx || || 102
|-
| 8 || Renate Lingor || FFC Frankfurt || 89
|-
| 8 || Victoria Svensson || Djurgårdens IF || 89
|-
| 10 || Cristiane || Juventus-SP|| 80
|-
| 11 || Pretinha || || 68
|-
| 12 || Formiga || Malmö FF || 54
|}