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The nominations are in and, while only English football’s most vehement and deluded nationalists have any complaints, the focus in England has inevitably been on the complete lack of native players on this year’s Ballon d’Or list and the relative paucity of Premier League involvement. Vive la mort.

The ‘Golden Ball’ award is now the FIFA Ballon d’Or following the decision to merge France Football‘s iconic prize with the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2010. As a result, the award will be determined by votes from journalists (as per the previous Ballon d’Or, but now worldwide), coaches and players. The 2010 FIFA Ballon dOr award ceremony will be held in Zurich on January 10th and will see the crowning of the best player in the world, as spurious as such an honour is. Here are the nominees:

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).

Vital statistics

• The list include seven Spaniards, five Germans, three Brazilians, two Dutchmen and one very special Argentine
• La Liga is the most represented league (11 players), with the Bundesliga on five and Serie A with four (with only one club representing each). The Premier League has three players nominated
• Barcelona are the club with the most nominees (six), followed by Bayern Munich (five), Inter Milan and Real Madrid (both four)
• In 2010, the nominees have (I think) piled up: seven World Cups (including the winning goal), nine World Cup finals, 16 league titles, four Champions Leagues (not including the winning goals), nine Champions League finals, one Europa League, ten domestic cups, four trebles and six doubles

A quick look at who’s in

For many, the name that sticks out will be Asamoah Gyan of Sunderland and Ghana. Gyan’s inclusion on the list of nominees clearly does not give him much chance of actually winning the award and, as such, should be seen both as a deserved nod of appreciation for his phenomenal contribution to the World Cup and an indicator of just how much weight the World Cup carries in the list. It certainly plays a big part in the decision to include Diego Forlan, who had a superb tournament in South Africa in addition to a fine season for Atletico Madrid.

It also probably helped the cause of one or two of the Germans on the list, perhaps most notably Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller, although a couple of the Bayern Munich players included made more than a few waves in club football. Carles Puyol and Iker Casillas would arguably have missed out on the list had Spain had a poor World Cup (they didn’t, so it’s immaterial), while I find Cesc Fabregas to be one of only a handful of outright curious selections.

Also on the list, of course, are the usual suspects and in particular the 2009 winner of the pre-merger awards, Lionel Messi.

A quick look at who’s out

Let’s get the Englishman out of the way early: I would have preferred to see Ashley Cole included in place of a few of the players who did make it. That’s not because he’s English and plays in the Premier League, it’s because I think the man is a magnificent footballer, albeit one that plays in a position that makes it tough to get noticed sometimes. It’s also worth giving Gerard Pique a nod, although one could argue that his 2010 wasn’t as good as 2009. Again, if Barcelona had knocked Inter out of Europe (and thanks to his goal they nearly did), Pique would’ve been nailed on.

It’s two Inter players who I think are the most surprising omissions. At the back, Lucio has been wonderful for the Nerazzurri. He was a rock throughout their treble-winning campaign and enhanced his reputation as a defender who just loves to defend and wouldn’t mind the ball being in his penalty area for 90 minutes, as demonstrated against Pique’s Barcelona. At the other end, Diego Milito doesn’t make a lot of noise but he really put his stamp on world football last season. He scored all the vital goals at the business end of the year for Inter, culminating in a typically Milito double in the Champions League final in Madrid.

A quick look at the potential winners

Here, it’s difficult to look past the Spain and Barcelona engine room. Andres Iniesta has a World Cup-winning goal in his favour and has been working in beautiful, influential tandem with Xavi in two of the year’s leading teams. Xavi’s form at times has been outrageous. Likewise their club colleague, Leo Messi, who has been in dazzling fettle for Barca and done some things that just shouldn’t be possible. And for me, Wesley Sneijder should be in with a shout. He won the treble with Inter and guided the Netherlands to an unexpected World Cup final, scoring some brilliant goals for both along the way.

When it comes down to it, I think it’s difficult to see any of these three Barcelona players missing out but I have a sneaking suspicion that one of them just might. I think it will come down to Xavi, Messi and Sneijder, with the Spaniard taking home the Ballon d’Or in January. I realise this means Iniesta gets nothing but I think it’s difficult to imagine Sneijder or Messi not in the top three this year.

Over to you. Who do you think will win it, and who do you think should?

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Tags: FIFA