FIFA has finally announced its 23-man shortlist for coveted Ballon d’Or award for the year 2012. One would expect Messi and Ronaldo to be in the list as clear favourites and as usual the list is dominated by the Spanish players with six players from the World champions’ squad. While it is safe to say that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to have a fierce competition for the award there were other notable omissions from the final list relesaed by FIFA.
When you see Sergio Busquets included in the list and to scroll down and find that his Spanish team mate David Silva missing out from the list is bit of a shocker. Silva who excelled with Spain was also influential in Manchester City’s Premier league triumph. Along with Silva his club colleague and captain Vincent Kompany would also feel unlucky to have missed out on the final 23. Among the strikers it was Mario Gomez, who scored 40 goals for Bayern Munich (in all competitions) last season and also had a good run with his national team. Other notable players to miss out are Sami Khedira and Ashley Cole who were influential in their team’s La Liga and Champions league triumph respectively.
Could Messi win the Ballon d’Or again in 2012 ?
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City and Argentina); Mario Balotelli (Manchester City and Italy); Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and France); Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy); Sergio Busquets (Barcelona and Spain); Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain); Didier Drogba (Chelsea/Shanghai Shenhua and Ivory Coast); Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid and Colombia); Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain/Milan and Sweden); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona and Spain); Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina); Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany); Neymar (Santos and Brazil); Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid and Germany); Gerard Pique (Barcelona and Spain); Andrea Pirlo (Juventus and Italy); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain); Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal); Wayne Rooney (Manchester United and England); Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast); Robin van Persie (Manchester United/Arsenal and Netherlands); Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid and Spain); Xavi (Barcelona and Spain)
Along with the players, a 10-man short list for World Coach of the year was also announced. It is believed that Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque will be the front runner for the award followed by Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo, Ex-Barcelona coach Guardiola and Machester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson.
Vicente del Bosque (Spain); Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea); Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United); Pep Guardiola (Barcelona, now unemployed); Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Munich); Juergen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund); Joachim Loew (Germany); Roberto Mancini (Manchester City); Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid); Cesare Prandelli (Italy)
The winner will be announced in the ceremony which is scheduled to be held in January next year.
Who do u think will be the winner ? Post your views below
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