Arsenal quartet up for award

Four Arsenal players have been nominated for the 2006 European Footballer of the Year Award, otherwise known as the Ballon d'Or or the Golden Ball award. Captain Thierry Henry is again nominated and is joined by compatriot William Gallas. Jens Lehmann and teenager Francesc Fabregas were also nominated.

Somewhat unsurprisingly Kolo Touré was overlooked for this award also, after missing out on the FIFA World Player of the Year shortlist as well.

The Ballon d'Or is often regarded as a more prestigious award than the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Instead of selecting a nomination shortlist by FIFA delegates and voted by national team bosses and captains it is selected by the leading journalists of France Football, and is only available to players playing in Europe.

Last year it was won by FIFA World Player of the Year winner Ronaldinho, and was first awarded in 1956 to the legendary Stanley Matthews.

The following players have been nominated:

France (11)
Grégory Coupet (Lyon), William Gallas (Arsenal), Ludovic Giuly (Barcelona), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Franck Ribéry (Marseille), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona), Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan), Zinedine Zidane (retired).

Italy (7)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Fabio Grosso (Inter Milan), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona)

Germany (6)
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

England (5)
Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea)

Brazil (4)
Cris (Lyon), Juninho (Lyon), Kaka (AC Milan), Ronaldinho (Barcelona)

Spain (4)
Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), David Villa (Valence)

Portugal (3)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Tiago (Lyon)

Argentina (2)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal)

Holland (1)
Arjen Robben (Chelsea)

Australia (1)
Tim Cahill (Everton)

Ukraine (1)
Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea)

Mali (1)
Mahamadou Diarra (Real Madrid)

Ivory Coast(1)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Ghana (1)
Michael Essien (Chelsea)

Cameroun (1)
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona)

Ecuador (1)
Edison Mendez (PSV Eindhoven)

Arsenal-Mania wishes Francesc Fabregas, William Gallas, Thierry Henry and Jens Lehmann the best of luck in winning the award.

User Comments

Jon

Posted on 13 Oct, 2006 at 12:53 PM - Reply

Surprising to see Rosicky in there, but he definitely deserves it. Quality player.

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