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Nominees for the 2008 European Footballer of the Year award
October 22nd 2008 03:00
Cristiano Ronaldo is the favourite for this year's Ballon d'Or
France Football Magazine has published the list of nominees for the prestigious Ballon d'Or or European Footballer of the Year award for 2008 and the list is dominated with players from the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga, each with 11 nominees.
Three English players have been shortlisted for the award and they are: Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard and the trio also happen to be the only British representatives.
Other Premier League players include Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba (both Chelsea), Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic (both Manchester United), Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor, and Fernando Torres of Liverpool.
And of course, the hot favourite for this year's award, 42-goal Manchester United and Portugal winger, Cristiano Ronaldo. He is tipped to be challenged by Barcelona's Lionel Messi who has been in inspirational form for his club.
Notable absentees from the list include Barcelona striker Thierry Henry and AC Milan's Ronaldinho - who received the accolade in 2005 - after disappointing campaigns last season.
Only three Serie A players have been nominated - AC Milan's Kaka, Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Full list of nominees:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo
Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Argentina
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Russia
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Italy
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona), Cameroon
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain
Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Spain
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), England
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden
Kaka (Milan AC), Brazil
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England
Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Argentina
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), France
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England
Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands
Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Netherland
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia
David Villa (Valence CF), Spain
Xavi (FC Barcelone), Spain
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Russia
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