FIFA reveal Player of the Year list

Five members of Italy’s World Cup winning squad are included in the shortlist of 30 players who will compete for the 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year title.

Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta and Andrea Pirlo are on the list, along with five Frenchman who starred in the World Cup Final in Berlin, those being Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Frank Ribery, Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira.

The name of Ronaldinho’s successor will be released on December 18 at the Zurich Opera House, during the 16th annual World Player Gala.

The list of candidates for the award was drawn up by football experts from different FIFA committees.

As in the last two years, the head coaches and captains of the national teams will now vote for the best player from the lists of candidates and FIFA will reveal the three names who received the most votes at the beginning of December.

The Gala will also include prizes for outstanding performances at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The tournament’s three best players (Zidane, Cannavaro and Pirlo) and top scorers (Miroslav Klose, Hernan Crespo and Ronaldo) will be presented with awards, as will the two fairest teams (Brazil and Spain) and the outstanding goalkeeper (Buffon).

The most represented club is Chelsea with six nominees, while Barcelona and Milan boast four players each.

Only Zidane and Ronaldinho among the candidates have already lifted the prestigious trophy in the past.


FIFA World Player of the Year shortlist: Adriano (Inter, Brazil), Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal), Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic), Deco (Barcelona, Portugal), Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon), Luis Figo (Inter, Portugal), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan, Italy), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France), Kaka (Milan, Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany), Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany), Alessandro Nesta (Milan, Italy), Andrea Pirlo (Milan, Italy), Franck Ribery (Marseille, France), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina), Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic), Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France), Patrick Vieira (Inter, France), Zinedine Zidane (retired, France).