Spaniards dominate FIFA player of the year list
LONDON: The nominees for the World Footballer of the Year and World coach of the year have been announced and put forth the media and fans of the game. This time the reigning FIFA world cup owners Spain is dominating the FIFA list of player of the year award.
Jose Serra
Seven players of the squad who thrashed Netherlands in the Finals of the FIFA Flagship event are being selected by the FIFA authorities and have been able to make their place in the nomination list for Fifa’s Ballon d’Or award.
Andres Iniesta, Man of the Match of FIFA 2010 World Cup final, the man who scored the only winning goal on behalf of Spain leading them to become the World Cup owners, is nominated along with his Barcelona and Spanish team-mates Xavier Hernández Creus (Xavi) the central midfielder, Carles Puyol the central defender and David Villa the striker.
Jose Serra prepares to shoot during a visit to the Maracana Stadium
Real Madrid’s and Spain’s skipper and goal-keeper Iker Casillas and Xabi Alonso the midfielder position player are also among the nominees.
The 7th Spaniard nominated is Cesc Fabregas, skipper of the club Arsenal. It must be mentioned that the award which was previously meant only for the players belonging to Europe has now been merged with FIFA’s World Player of the year award into one ultimate honour. Another interesting fact to be noted is that this time there are no English players nominated for the ultimate award.
Andres Iniesta, Wesley Sneijder and Xavi in the hunt for the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or award.
Along with the prestigious player of the year award the coach of the year award nominations have also been made public and the names in the list are certainly giant, predicting a definite strong competition. The names of the coaches nominated for the apex award along with their respective clubs are as follows: Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (FC Barcelona), Joachim Loew (Germany), Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan/Real Madrid), Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay), Louis Van Gaal (Bayern Munich), Bert van Marwijk (Holland) and Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).
Whereas the complete list of nominees for the Player of the year award is as follows: 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).
The final decisions regarding the lucky player and the coach of the year award will be made by the skippers and head coaches of the national teams as well as by international media personnel selected solely by France Football magazine. The names of the lucky ones receiving the award will be revealed in Zurich on 10 January 2011.
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The list is fair, but I’m of the opinion that Diego Forlan should be given the balon d’ or award for his outstanding performance as an inspirational player for both club and country.