FIFA’s Annual Lists for Managers and Player of the Year
Yesterday, FIFA released their official annual list of the contenders for the yearly awards.
Presented below is the list of the players nominated in no particular order for the annual most prestigious FIFA Ballon D’Or award:
1. Iker Casillas (Spain)
2. David Villa (Spain)
3. Andres Iniesta (Spain)
4. Xavi Hernandez (Spain)
5. Carlos Puyol (Spain)
6. Xabi Alonso (Spain)
7. Cesc Fabregas (Spain)
8. Mezut Ozil (Germany
9. Thomas Muller (Germany)
10. Bastian Scheinsteger (Germany)
11. Phillip Lahm (Germany)
12. Miroslav Klose (Germany)
13. Wesley Sneijder (Holland)
14. Arjen Robben (Holland)
15. Asamoah Gyan (Ghana)
16. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
17. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon)
18. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
19. Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
20. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
21. Julio Cesar (Brazil)
22. Dani Alves (Brazil)
23. Maicon (Brazil)
There are some names on this list which any fan that follows football can tell have no significant shot of winning this award.
This leaves only a few names on the list that are in the actual running for this award, but if history has taught us something then that is that the chosen player that is awarded comes from whichever country wins the FIFA World
Cup or the one that went to the latter part of the tournament.
So this narrows down the list to Diego Forlan, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Andres Iniesta and David Villa.
This will be the twentieth edition of the award and all signs point to the Spaniards winning this title.
It will be for the first time that a Spaniard would be receiving this award and we have to hand it to them as there are seven Spanish contenders.
The history of the award in the World Cup years always goes to the player from the World Cup winning team as Romario won it in 1994, then Zinedine Zidane won it in 1998, then Ronaldo got it in 2002 and then last was Fabio Cannavaro
who received it in the last World Cup in 2006.
All the football pundits, managers and fans alike believe that Andres Iniesta is going to win as there seems to be a unanimous opinion that it is not going to be David Villa.
FIFA also released their list for the female player of the year award and it seems that Marta is going to bag it for the fifth time in a row.
The last list comes for the manager of the year and the bosses in the running are as follows in no particular order:
1. Carlo Ancelotti
2. Vicente del Bosque
3. Alex Ferguson
4. Pep Guardiola
5. Joachim Loew
6. Jose Mourinho
7. Oscar Tabarez
8. Louis Van Gaal
9. Bert Van Marwijk
10. Arsene Wenger
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