England have NO players on 23-man shortlist for world player

• Poignant

  26 Oct 10, 19:27

  England pay the price for World Cup failure with stars snubbed for prestigious Ballon d'Or prize
  

  England stars have been overlooked for the prestigious FIFA Ballon d'Or award with seven members of Spain's World Cup-winning squad shortlisted for the prize.

  Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas is one of three Barclays Premier League players on the 23-man list of nominees. The others are Chelsea's Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba and Sunderland's Ghana frontman Asamoah Gyan.

  But England's disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa sees the likes of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry all snubbed.

  

  Pain game: Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and John Terry all missed out on the world player of the year shortlist

  Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will battle it out with Chelsea rival Carlo Ancelotti and Arsenal boss Arsenal Wenger for the world coach of the year.

  But Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who celebrated a monumental treble in charge of Inter Milan last season, is the favourite for the award alongside World Cup winning Spain manager Vicente del Bosque.

  Andres Iniesta, who netted the winning goal in the Johannesburg final against Holland in July, is among the contenders along with his Barcelona team-mates Xavi, Carles Puyol and David Villa.

  Spain captain Iker Casillas and his Real Madrid colleague Xabi Alonso also make the shortlist.

  Barca's Argentina forward Lionel Messi and Brazil right-back Daniel Alves, Atletico Madrid forward Diego Forlan - who scored five goals at the World Cup and received the Golden Ball award - and Real Madrid pair Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil make up 11 players nominated from La Liga.

  

  Eyes on the prize: Seven Spain World Cup winners are on the list including David Villa and Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas

  Inter Milan quartet Samuel Eto'o, Julio Cesar, Maicon and Wesley Sneijder are also included after winning an unprecedented Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League treble last term, with their former boss Jose Mourinho heading the candidates for the inaugural World Coach of the Year award.

  Messi is the reigning Ballon d'Or winner and FIFA World Player of the Year.
  The awards have now been merged after, after an agreement in July, so the best player in the world will now be recognised by a single accolade - the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

  The final decisions will be made by the captains and head coaches of the national teams as well as by international media representatives selected by France Football.
  The winners will be revealed in Zurich on January 10.

  World Player of the Year nominees

  Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

  

  Top of the pots: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who guided Inter Milan to the Champions league title last season, is nominated for boss of the year

  World Coach of the Year nominees

  Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (FC Barcelona), Joachim Low (Germany), Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan/Real Madrid), Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay), Louis van Gaal (Bayern Munich), Bert van Marwijk (Holland) and Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).

• Rooney9

  26 Oct 10, 19:30

  england players are over rated lar, as usual.

• Asromanista2001

  26 Oct 10, 19:40

  the media over hyped them until they actually believe they're superstars...........

   

  i still remember when Man Utd won the European Cup Winners' Cup in the 90's ............the English press say they're the Kings of Europe............!!!

   

  that cup is even worse than the old UEFA Cup................it's only 3rd class................

• stellazio

  26 Oct 10, 19:42

  World player of the year might go to Sneijder who was outstanding for both club and country.

  If they gave it to Iniesta it was purely for the world cup final, Xavi had quite a good season as well overall, but because his playstyle isnt so highlighted they might overlooked him for those that are on the scoresheet more often.

  For coach, i would think Jose Mourinho will win it, usually club managers gets more recognition here.

• Y_Shun

  26 Oct 10, 20:30

  Quite obvious Mourinho will win Manager of the Year....

• eddiestolemyoriginalname

  26 Oct 10, 20:32

  they forgot emile heskey

• Rock^Star

  26 Oct 10, 20:45

  this is my bet: 1st villa 2nd sneijder 3rd forlan. Anyway, england is so overrated. I can't remember a time when england stars werent mentioned in the ballon d'or nominations till now.

  michael carrick and gareth barry worth 18m pounds each? Haha fuck la.

• stellazio

  26 Oct 10, 22:04

  Villa will be overlooked because last year he was still playing for Valencia and although he helped them to qualify for UCL this year, his exploits in Europe wasn't impressive.

• Rock^Star

  26 Oct 10, 22:23

  winning the world's greatest prize in football for your country with 4 goals is surely enough.

• Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1)

  26 Oct 10, 22:31

  They forgotten about Luis Suarez?  

   

  Brave man who hand ball

   

   

  Gyan still can tio shortlist

   

  Miss Penalty .. .which suarez give him

• JazzMyWorld

  27 Oct 10, 16:39

  Confirm + Guarantee + Chop that the Balloon d'Or player award would go to a Spanish player ever since they won their 1st World Cup title.

  My predictions:

  1st: David Villa

  2nd: Arjen Robben

  3rd: Miroslav Klose

   

  World Coach of the year award:

  1st: Vicente del Bosque

  2nd: Jose Mourinho

  3rd: Carlo Ancelotti

• omgukilledkenny

  28 Oct 10, 02:20

  Sunderland player nominated!

• si mi lan jiao?????

  28 Oct 10, 12:27

  Originally posted by omgukilledkenny:

  Sunderland player nominated!

  
  hahahahaha.big insult to liverpoo players.anyway,pool players all suck cock one

• dragg

  28 Oct 10, 13:37

  one of the spanish player will win it.

  if so, i hope its villa.

   

   

• iceFatboy

  29 Oct 10, 10:40

  have anyone seen the UCL draw where they give out awards?? practically, all went Inter way.. so what's new??