2012 Ballon d'Or

[Big Sam]

23-man shortlist:

Sergio Agüero (Manchester City)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Mario Balotelli (Manchester City)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Didier Drogba (Shanghai Shenhua)
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
Zlatan Ibrahimović (PSG)
Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
Neymar (Santos)
Mesut Özil (Real Madrid)
Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)
Andrea Pirlo (Juventus)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Yaya Touré (Manchester City)
Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
Xavi (Barcelona)

FIFA also revealed the ten managers nominated for the FIFA World Coach of the Year award. They are:
Vicente del Bosque (Spain)
Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea)
Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)
Pep Guardiola (Barcelona)
Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Münich)
Jürgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund)
Joachim Löw (Germany)
Roberto Mancini (IManchester City)
José Mourinho (Real Madrid)
Cesare Prandelli (Italy)

http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/index.html

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How Rooney got on the list is beyond me. Nice to see players from 3 different confederations - has that happened before?

Breakdown of leagues: 5 PL, 1 CSL, 1 Ligue 1, 2 Serie A, 1 Brasilierao, 12 La Liga, 1 BL. Confirmation that La Liga is the best in the world.

How I would vote?
1.Iniesta
2.Messi
3.Ronaldo

Coach: Del Bosque

 

[Big Sam]

Just looking at the lists again, 2 players that have been shortchanged in my mind are Kompany and Hazard.

Kompany is a victim of a natural bias all football followers have against defenders (e.g. only 5 purely defensive players in the shortlist), but he was among the best defenders in the PL last season and captained admirably.

And Hazard was the best player in Ligue 1 for two seasons running and has had an impressive start at Chelsea. Deserved to be on this year's shortlist but he'll be there next year for sure.

Also I'd love to have seen Rene Girard, the Montpellier coach, at least nominated. It's no mean feat taking a side that was tipped to be relegated to the Ligue 1 title, all the while having a budget 1/5 that of your rivals.

 

[Twizzle]

Drogba ?

 

[Big Sam]

Was the only reason Chel$ki won the UCL so I have no issue with him being there. But with Rooney and to a degree RVP, I do.

 

[Big Sam]

Bump.

Winner is announced tomorrow. Shortlist has been whittled down to Messi, Iniesta, and Ronaldo.

 

[pennywisealfie]

Lets go Messi, although, I would love it if Andres won it

 

[boxhead]

Messi should win it, he kind of broke a number of records.

 

[WireMan]

Messi didn't win anything so for that reason i'm saying its between the other two...

 

[Big Sam]

Messi didn't win anything so for that reason i'm saying its between the other two...

 

[WireMan]

What was that?

If its not the league, champs league or an international tournament i'm still going for Iniesta or Ronnie.

 

[whall15]

Copa del Rey.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Messi didn't win anything so for that reason i'm saying its between the other two...

Never understood this argument. Winning team trophies has nothing to do with individual performances.

Plenty of shite players have won titles.

 

[Jason Maher]

Figured out how Rooney and RVP made the shortlist yet Sam? Your anti-England, anti-United bias is quite amusing.

 

[WireMan]

Figured out how Rooney and RVP made the shortlist yet Sam? Your anti-England, anti-United bias is quite amusing.

Its not bias, its gone beyond that.

It's a complex he has now. He has got it bad!!

 

[Big Sam]

Anti-United bias? Yes, absolutely. And proud of it too.

Yes Rooney on the shortlist is a joke. 2012 was probably his most quiet year so far. And on the second half of 2012, RVP deserves to be there but on the first half, he certainly does not. If FIFA based it on the second half of 2012 then Suarez deserves to be on that list too.

 

[Jason Maher]

Are you taking the piss? Both of them deserve to be there. RVP carried Arse last season. Then he moved to a decent team and kept the roll going. Rooney was our best player last season, and his form has been great this season as well. Obviously you're a simpleton who thinks because he hasn't been scoring as many goals this season as he did last season, he has therefore had a quiet year. Newsflash: Rooney has been playing primarily as an attacking midfielder, setting up RVP, Welbeck, and Hernandez, rather than scoring the bulk of the goals himself. And he has been doing it very well.

Out of sheer interest, is there any substantive reason you hate United, or are you just following the crowd?

 

[Big Sam]

I thought my support for Suarez to be on that shortlist would've given away why I hate Man U ;-)

 

[Jason Maher]

So you're a Liverpool supporter who seems to spend every waking moment pondering why the EPL is so vastly inferior to the continental leagues? Bizarre.

On Suarez, I hate the little prick, but I am surprised he's not on the list. Liverpool would be in a right mess without him. Perhaps the Evra incident had something to with it (this is FIFA we're talking about)?

 

[Big Sam]

Why can't I both love a club but dislike the league it plays in and how it's run? Plenty of people on LU love their club but regularly savage the NRL.

I'd have thought the Evra incident would've actually enhanced FIFA and Blatter's view of Suarez...

 

[Jason Maher]

I was thinking along the lines that they could pretend they care about racism by not nominating him, but I see where you're coming from...