World Player of the Year shortlist

Four England players have made it on to the shortlist for FIFA’s world player of the year award.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, voted the most valuable player in Europe by UEFA in August, has the best chance of an English player winning the award after his role in leading the Reds to success in the Champions League.

England captain David Beckham, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard have also been nominated on the the preliminary list of 30 players drawn up by FIFA.

The shortlist is, as always, dominated by strikers and attacking midfielders with just one goalkeeper in the 30.

Real Madrid have six players on the shortlist, AC Milan five and Chelsea four - Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Lampard and Arjen Robben.

There are 10 players from the Barclays Premiership, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Jay-Jay Okocha and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The coaches and captains of every national team will be sent the shortlist and asked to choose their top three players, and the one with the most votes will be announced at the FIFA gala in Zurich on December 19.

England also has one player on the women’s shortlist, the Arsenal Ladies striker Kelly Smith.

Men’s shortlist: Adriano (Inter, Brazil), Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich, Germany), David Beckham (Real Madrid, England), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy), Cafu (AC Milan, Brazil), Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd, Portugal), Deco (Barcelona, Portugal), Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana), Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona, Cameroon), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus, Sweden), Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England), Paolo Maldini (AC Milan, Italy), Pavel Nedved (Juventus, Czech Republic), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy), Jay-Jay Okocha (Bolton, Nigeria), Raul (Real Madrid, Spain), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina), Arjen Robben (Chelsea, Holland), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid, Brazil), Robinho (Real Madrid, Brazil), Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil), Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Brazil), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd, England), Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan, Ukraine), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man Utd, Holland), Zidane Zinedine (Real Madrid, France).

1 goalie....no Given....pathetic!!

my 3 votes would be for

1st ronaldino
2nd rooney
3rd lamps

Adriano although I'd love to see Nedved win it.

How did Drogba make the shortlist?
Player of the year.....Kaka

This Player of the year thing has taken a nosedive the last few years, its almost as ridiculous as the FIFA rankings. Beckham, Zidane, Maldini? What have they done in the last year?

Raul, Beckham and RVN on the list - how do FIFA expect it to be taken seriously. All 3 have just come off the back of appalling seasons. It's always a who's who of footballs superstars on the list no matter how they have performed throughout the year. I reckon Beckham has been on every list for the past 5 years! Not surprising though because Fifa would rather have those 3 at their grandiose ceremony than the likes of Zambrotta, Given and Sorin who all deserve to be in the top 10, never mind the top 30!

Duff Instead of Robben for player of the YEAR anyday, Robben had a short good spell with Chelsea last season and doesnt do that good with Holland afaik.. Drogba????????? eh?:confused:

Any idea when it's judged from and until? Seems some weird choices if it's based on the last season. I mean what has Backham done to deserve nomination other than being distinctly average for Real Madrid and England. The diving Dutch horse? Wasn't he injured most of the year and then didn't score much when fit? Dorgba? Hardly a huge success in his first season at Chelsea. Okocha? Most Bolton fans thought hehad his worst season ever and were ready to see him go play in the middle East. By the end of the season he wasn't even a Bolton regular. The one trick pony Ronaldo? Ridiculous.

So basically what is the criteria? Try removing the players names.....

(Inter, Brazil)
(Bayern Munich, Germany)
(Real Madrid, England)
(Juventus, Italy)
(AC Milan, Brazil),
(Man Utd, Portugal)
(Barcelona, Portugal)
(Chelsea, Ivory Coast)
(Chelsea, Ghana)
(Barcelona, Cameroon)
(Liverpool, England)
(Arsenal, France)
(Juventus, Sweden)
(AC Milan, Brazil)
(Chelsea, England)
(AC Milan, Italy)
(Juventus, Czech Republic)
(AC Milan, Italy)
(Bolton, Nigeria)
(Real Madrid, Spain)
(Villarreal, Argentina)
(Chelsea, Holland)
(Real Madrid, Brazil)
(Real Madrid, Brazil)
(Barcelona, Brazil)
(Real Madrid, Brazil)
(Man Utd, England)
(AC Milan, Ukraine)
(Man Utd, Holland)
(Real Madrid, France).

A picture quickly emerges, its hard to imagine what Okocha and Riquelme are doing in there unless they have signed a pre-contract agreement with one of the above clubs.

It's based on how good you look from the armchair on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night, and the reason there's a lack of Liverpool players in is basically they're boring to watch, so the "experts" press the red button on the remote and choose highlights from one of the other eight matches instead.
Riquelme and Okocha are wild cards because of the countries they play for. 7 Brazilians and 1 Argentinian? Nobody from the self-styled "best African team" who qualified for three World Cups on the trot [although missing out this time]?

I just realised there is no John Terry on the list.:eek: That is the worst omission possible. He was last season and still is the best defender in Europe.

No Terry or Makelele but Robben makes it. Robben was injured from February onwards and since he came back has been really poor and fell behind Duff, Cole and SWP in the pecking order. From what I read, Cannavaro has been a lot better than Nesta this year too. Its all about reputation.