Champions League - Prem stars up for Ballon d'Or

Eurosport - Sun, 19 Oct 14:41:00 2008

Eleven Premier League players have been nominated for the Ballon d'Or including favourite Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League - Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United - 0

United have four names on the list after winning the Premier League and Champions League last season: Ronaldo, in-form England striker Wayne Rooney, centre-half Nemanja Vidic and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

Three Chelsea players were chosen ahead of the December 2 ceremony: Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack.

There were two men apiece from Arsenal and Liverpool: Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor from the Gunners, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres from the Reds.

Torres could snatch a top-three spot after scoring the winning goal for Spain - who had seven players chosen - at Euro 2008 and enjoying a spectacular debut season on Merseyside.

The Premier League's contingent is matched by La Liga, also with 11 nominees.

Real Madrid have five faces in the 30 after retaining their Liga title, despite falling to Roma at the first knockout stage in Europe. Barcelona have three players including another potential victor, Argentina star Lionel Messi.

Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Valencia are also represented.

Last year's winner Kaka is one of only three players to represent Italy's domestic game while there are two from both the German and Russian leagues.

Lyon star striker Karim Benzema is the sole player picked from Ligue 1.

However there are no places for either 2005 winner Ronaldinho or Thierry Henry. It is the first time the Frenchman has not made the shortlist, shortened from 50 this year, since 1999.

"It's normal, I did not play much in the last season," Ronaldinho told TF1 after hearing the news.

Former winners Fabio Cannavaro of Italy and Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko were also excluded.

The award, formerly known as European Footballer of the Year, is chosen by 96 journalists from all over the world after a poll organised by French magazine France Football.

The list in full:

Premier League (11)

Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Edwin van der Sar (all Manchester United)

Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack (all Chelsea)

Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres (both Liverpool)

Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor (both Arsenal)

La Liga (11)

Iker Casillas, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rafael van der Vaart, Sergio Ramos, Pepe (all Real Madrid)

Lionel Messi, Xavi, Samuel Eto'o (all Barcelona)

Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid)

David Villa (Valencia)

Marcos Senna (Villarreal)

Serie A (3)

Kaka (AC Milan)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan)

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

Bundesliga (2)

Franck Ribery, Luca Toni (both Bayern Munich)

Russian league (2)

Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg)

Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow)

Ligue 1

Karim Benzema (Lyon)

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 17 - 36 of 36

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  1. I`m a united fan but definately agree with those who claim Lionel messi is a better player.even kaka is better as he has proved consistently over the years.and they all have very decent attitudes unlike that portu of a geese Ronaldo. shame shame on Ronaldo

    From john, on Fri 2 Jan 1:38PM

  2. Messi is the best player in the world right now....hands down...Ronaldo is a diver.....Torres is good but lacks something....Kaka is always good...

    From Pablo A, on Wed 22 Oct 5:59AM

  3. if it is not ronaldo, it has to be carsillas. these are the 2 players who meet the criteria.their contributions are peerless in all ramifications.

    From ademolashi2, on Tue 21 Oct 12:42PM

  4. It is still too early to say who will make the Top 3 this time. I'm tipping Ronaldo, Messi, Villa, Casillas or Fabregas to win it. All are talismanic in their clubs and countries and have shown great form recently.

    From quilava_ex, on Tue 21 Oct 12:15PM

  5. the results are already obvious 1. ROnadlo 2. Torres 3. Messi. Although Messi is a better player than Torres, Fernando had an amazing debut season and would be no.1 if ROnaldo wasnt playing and also won Euro Championship with Spain and scored the goal, Messi is purely an amazing footballer but he needs to win CPL or La Liga or World Cup to ever get to no.1. Ronaldo is easily the best and already has 4 goals this season when hes hardly even played...

    From zehst, on Mon 20 Oct 10:54PM

  6. we all know in advance that CHRISTIANO RONALDO will win. he is a great outstanding player.

    From the_simple_mind, on Mon 20 Oct 12:35PM

  7. kaka is a great player but honestly, what did he do last year? Fabregas has his name written on it for the future for sure but not this year. Messi was out with an injury and didn't score week in week out in la liga (he is veeeery good though). Torres had a great Premiership debut but didn't win any trophies with Liverpool (Granted he did have an excellent Euros). Ronaldo scored goals, won trophies and was consistent... sure the Euros didn't go well for him but he'd been carrying an ankle injury for the last month or two of last season. I think he deserves to win it, really not trying to be biassed either. And as to why United has four players to Chelseas three... even if you have got a team full of big names, they still need to perform. Chelsea won nothing last year but 'oh no, we have big names so we must have the most on the list'... idiot.

    From Nicholas G, on Mon 20 Oct 9:53AM

  8. Last season's Serie A top scorer and the guy to led troubled Juventus to third place Aleesandro Del Piero should be in that list. Its one of the most difficult achievements in someone who plays in his position to be Serie A top scorer... He should be on the list

    From binshnan, on Mon 20 Oct 8:16AM

  9. I bet Messi and C.Ronaldo will be futuring on that list. I dont know the order and the rest of the 28 can come in any random order. lol I pray Eto'o gets really close though because Kaka is still in form and may be third.

    From CrazyStar1117, on Mon 20 Oct 5:01AM

  10. Its gotta be Torres or Iker... Iker is the best goalkeeper on the two best teams right now Real and Spain... Ronaldo blew it in Euros and missed his Pk in the CL final

    From chelsea13, on Sun 19 Oct 9:54PM

  11. "Vida" is Nemanja Vidic you bunch of ignorami!

    From Tim, on Sun 19 Oct 8:42PM

  12. manu r ####

    From LISA W, on Sun 19 Oct 8:33PM

  13. gerrard to win and who the hell is vida

    From LISA W, on Sun 19 Oct 8:27PM

  14. hansen_1609, would u mind telling me who won the Premier League AND Champions League last year?

    From ysm92, on Sun 19 Oct 6:52PM

  15. fabregas the best the best the best.

    From Sewedo, on Sun 19 Oct 5:47PM

  16. torres end of

    From hodgey1972, on Sun 19 Oct 5:03PM

  17. not fair.... why MU 4 player,and chelsea only 3 player???? Chelsea is more strong better than MU....

    From hansen_1609, on Sun 19 Oct 3:55PM

  18. Forget about Vidic and Pepe - what the hell is Eurosport's Jonathan Symcox doing on there?!

    From tomwilliams83, on Sun 19 Oct 3:43PM

  19. Messi for the win! "vida" is villa bye the bye!

    From WHitehartpunk, on Sun 19 Oct 3:21PM

  20. KAKA WILL WIN IT CAUSE DE REST AR SHIIIT

    From mateusz090, on Sun 19 Oct 3:12PM
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