Ballon D'Or

SlickRic

The Player Nominees :

Eric Abidal (France)
Sergio Aguero (Argentina)
Karim Benzema (France)
Iker Casillas (Spain)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Dani Alves (Brazil)
Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon)
Cesc Fabregas (Spain)
Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Andres Iniesta (Spain)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Thomas Muller (Germany)
Nani (Portugal)
Neymar (Brazil)
Mesut Ozil (Germany)
Gerard Pique (Spain)
Wayne Rooney (England)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
Luis Suarez (Uruguay)
David Villa (Spain)
Xabi Alonso (Spain)
Xavi (Spain)

The Coach Nominees:

Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team)
Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC)
Rudi Garcia (France/Lille OSC)
Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Barcelona)
Jurgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund)
Joachim Low (Germany/Germany national team)
Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid)
Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay/Uruguay national team)
Andre Villas-Boas (Portugal/FC Porto, Chelsea)
Arsene Wenger (France/Arsenal).

no VP.

lol.

amiable

Is Abidal a sympathy vote?

I'm delighted he recovered but he's not up there with the elite.

jaykay74

What period does it cover ? Jan 1st to today or season 2010/2011 or something else ?

Doesn't really matter anyway, Messi & Pep wins whatever period is being discussed.

niallo27

Why is nani in there as well, he has being poor for this calender year.

Gillington

amiable wrote: »

Is Abidal a sympathy vote?

I'm delighted he recovered but he's not up there with the elite.

My thoughts exactly,brilliannt to have him back but surely he hasnt been one of the best defenders?

Blatter

Yeah, doesn't van Persie have more league goals than Messi this calendar year? Think it's like 28 or something.

Number 1 and number 2 will be Messi and Ronaldo obviously enough I think.

Xavi6

The anti-Manchester City bias is disgusting.

Blatter

Xavi6 wrote: »

The anti-Manchester City bias is disgusting.

Why who else should be there besides Aguero?

Silva only became great this season, he was good the second half of last year but nowhere near as effective.

You could argue Kompany but Vidic and Pique aren't on it either.

_blank_

Pique is there

That_Guy

No Demba Ba? We're a top 3 team FFS.

<_<

>_>

Xavi6

Blatter wrote: »

Why who else should be there besides Aguero?

Silva only became great this season, he was good the second half of last year but nowhere near as effective.

If Nani is in there then so should Silva.

You could argue Kompany but Vidic and Pique aren't on it either.

I would argue. He's a glaring omission.

D'Agger

Ahhhh lads where's Lucas?? :pac:

TheBuilder

Cant believe David Silva isn't in there!

jaykay74

From what I can see its for last season and not the calendar year since the award was merged with FIFA player of the year so anything Silva has done this season isn't relevant.

keano_afc

Van Persie is in the form of his life and scores over a goal a game since the New Year and doesnt get shortlisted? Its almost as embarrassing as the PFA list. No Gareth Bale?

SlickRic

keano_afc wrote: »

No Gareth Bale?

they got one thing right so

edson

Allegri was on the shortlist for the coach award but missed the cut, wtf? Wenger is on the list, what did they win?

And Di Natale was shortlisted as well, and he too missed the cut. He's been top scorer in Italy for the last 2 years, while Eto'o made it! There are only 2 Serie A players on the list, Sneijder and Forlan (who wasn't even playing in Serie A last year).

I know Serie A has lost its appeal over the last decade, but surely they deserve these guys on the list as well?

Pinturicchio

edson wrote: »

Allegri was on the shortlist for the coach award but missed the cut, wtf? Wenger is on the list, what did they win?

And Di Natale was shortlisted as well, and he too missed the cut. He's been top scorer in Italy for the last 2 years, while Eto'o made it! There are only 2 Serie A players on the list, Sneijder and Forlan (who wasn't even playing in Serie A last year).

I know Serie A has lost its appeal over the last decade, but surely they deserve these guys on the list as well?

Players' reputations seem to count for too much when it comes to this award. There is no way Eto'o or Sneijder have been better than Di Natale for example.

PHB

This broader list has always been a joke, every year same problems.

Quazzie

jaykay74 wrote: »

From what I can see its for last season and not the calendar year since the award was merged with FIFA player of the year so anything Silva has done this season isn't relevant.

Why is Cesc Fabregas on the list so?

Seaneh

They should have never merged the Ballon D'Or with the FIFA WPOY award, the FIFA award has always had problems with players being picked by reputation and feck all else while, in the past, the Ballon D'Or has usually been objective and a pretty good standard to go off.

jaykay74

Quazzie wrote: »

Why is Cesc Fabregas on the list so?

why would I know

SlickRic

if Cesc is on the list, David Silva should easily be on the list.

there's no point in taking the list too seriously, it's predominantly on reputation.

Villa shouldn't be there instead of Silva either IMO, and Puyol deserves to be in there more than Pique.

we all know who 1 and 2 will be, so there's nothing to worry about.

Blatter

Just had another look at the list, and there seems to be a massive bias towards players from the bigger nations.

The only one that's included that isn't from one of the big nations is Eto'o.

edson

Uruguay? I wouldn't consider them too big either, despite winning the Copa America!

Blatter

edson wrote: »

Uruguay? I wouldn't consider them too big either, despite winning the Copa America!

I think it's clear Forlan is only there because of the Copa and more than likely Suarez.

Nuri Sahin

Xavi should win.. Messi will win.

Pep or Del Bosque for the managers award, can't argue against either of them. Former will edge out the latter though I'd say.

Personally, Xavi and Klopp get my vote. I'm horribly biased for Klopp just a smidgen though :pac:

Nuri Sahin

Forlan was alright in the Copa, missed some real sitters and looked a shadow of himself the summer before at the WC.

Suarez fully justifies his nomination for both the Copa and the year he has had at club level.

homerjay2005

well the list is irrelevant, the best player normally wins it in the end.

if we want to be picky, abidal shouldnt really be there nor should forlan or benzema.

Blatter

El LoCo Ade wrote: »

Forlan was alright in the Copa, missed some real sitters and looked a shadow of himself the summer before at the WC.

Suarez fully justifies his nomination for both the Copa and the year he has had at club level.

Oh I'm not arguing that Suarez shouldn't be there, just that I think the Copa had a lot to do with it and it wouldn't have surprised me if he wasn't there if he and Uruguay didn't do so well at the Copa.

Forlan there and RVP not is farcical though.

LostBoy101

Ah lads where is Heskey..

Nuri Sahin

Blatter wrote: »

Oh I'm not arguing that Suarez shouldn't be there, just that I think the Copa had a lot to do with it and it wouldn't have surprised me if he wasn't there if he and Uruguay didn't do so well at the Copa.

Forlan there and RVP not is farcical though.

No, no, I agree 100%. Forlan is in there solely based on the Copa this year. Saurez probably too, but at least he can be justified by his club form too unlike Forlan was my point. Forlan has been average at best since WC 2010 IMHO.

Eric Abidal (FRA) Samuel Eto’o (CMR), Cesc Fabregas (ESP), Diego Forlan (URU) Thomas Muller (GER), Wesley Sneijder(NED)

wtf And no RVP

Eathrin

Surprised Van Der Vaart didn't make it

Bodhisopha

Poor Victor Valdes. At the very least he deserves to make the shortlist.

eyescreamcone

Messi and Pep for me

Quazzie

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Poor Victor Valdes. At the very least he deserves to make the shortlist.

He can't make the national team. What makes you think he should be on the list for the Balon D'Or?

J. Marston

How did Wenger manage to make it on to the shortlist?

Quazzie

J. Marston wrote: »

How did Wenger manage to make it on to the shortlist?

Thats probably the most bizarre inclusion for me. He had a decent start to the season but how he can be included after that finishing run is beyond me. I guess it just goes to prove publicity is a major contributing factor in these selections.

J. Marston

He won nothing (every other club manager on that list won a trophy/trophies) and Arsenal's form from mid February to May was a shambles. What a joke including him on that list.

eugeneious

AdamD wrote: »

Eric Abidal (FRA) Samuel Eto’o (CMR), Cesc Fabregas (ESP), Diego Forlan (URU) Thomas Muller (GER), Wesley Sneijder(NED)

wtf And no RVP

Eto'o had a phenomenal season last year and Muller was very good as well.

9 goals in 21 games in the league hardly seems Ballon D'Or esque to me

amiable

Cian A wrote: »

Surprised Van Der Vaart didn't make it

Did Van Der Vaart's form not tail off in the second half of last season?

Redzer7

Rooney the only Englishman up for the Ballon D'Or
Terry the only Englishman up for the Fallon D'Floor.

pandaboy

Did Falcao get shortlisted? Surely he should've been included.

Bodhisopha

Quazzie wrote: »

He can't make the national team. What makes you think he should be on the list for the Balon D'Or?

The fact that he is an excellent keeper and playing for the best team in the history of football. Foolish of me?

Seaneh

Bodhisopha wrote: »

The fact that he is an excellent keeper and playing for the best team in the history of football. Foolish of me?

And he still can't get into the Spanish team.

He isn't the best keeper in Spain, never mind the world, how on earth does he merit inclusion for an award for the best player in the world?

Reganio 2

SlickRic wrote: »

if Cesc is on the list, David Silva should easily be on the list.

there's no point in taking the list too seriously, it's predominantly on reputation.

Villa shouldn't be there instead of Silva either IMO, and Puyol deserves to be in there more than Pique.

we all know who 1 and 2 will be, so there's nothing to worry about.

Why? Puyol played 30 games or so last season, he was injured for a good lot of it. That 30 games includes his 5 mins in the Champions League final.

Bodhisopha

Seaneh wrote: »

And he still can't get into the Spanish team.

He isn't the best keeper in Spain, never mind the world, how on earth does he merit inclusion for an award for the best player in the world?

I was not aware that only one goalkeeper was allowed on the list. Please forgive me.

As for meriting inclusion for an award for the best player in the world? Have you seen the list?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

David Villa has done little this calender year. Farce that RvP isn't there, can't understand the omission of David Silva either.

Messi alreay has this, if Xavi didn't win it last year he hasn't a hope this year, and he's Messi's closest rival for this imo.
Coach should go to Pep. No one else has done much, joke that Wenger is on the list.

Warper

Messi obv wins and Pep wins the coach award. Last we had a Barca 1-2-3, this year prob be Messi, Ronaldo and Xavi