About 30 players were nominated by FIFA for the world footballer of the year, the award comes up on December 18 2006 in zurich, Switzerland.
last year the Chelsea Frank Lampard came second behind Dinho whom came first as the World Best.

Out of the 30 shortlisted players by FIFA who worth the Crown
The players are:-

Ronaldinho, (Barcelona, Brazil),
Adriano, (Inter Milan, 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 Milan, Portugal),
Gennaro Gattuso, (AC Milan, Italy),
Steven Gerrard, (Liverpool, England),
Thierry Henry, (Arsenal, France),
Kaka, (AC Milan, Brazil),
Miroslav Klose, (Werder Bremen, Germany),
Philippe Lahm, (Bayern Munich, Germany),
Frank Lampard, (Chelsea, England),
Jens Lehmann, (Arsenal, Germany),
Alessandro Nesta, (AC Milan, Italy),
Andrea Pirlo, (AC Milan, Italy),]
Franck Ribery, (Marseille, France),
Juan Roman Riquelme, (Villarreal, Argentina),
Wayne Rooney, (Manchester United, England),
Tomas Rosicky, (Arsenal, Czech Republic),
Andriy Shevchenko, (Chelsea, Ukraine),
Lilian Thuram, (Barcelona, France),
Patrick Vieira, (Inter Milan, France),
Zinedine Zidane, (retired, France).

6 Chelsea players in there.

All these english players for God sake!

Lampard ko! Rooney ni!!

Naturally, in the world cup year, MVP winner in the WC always win it but with Zidane's behaviour, i rest my case.

Even if Zizou should headbutt Blatter today he will still be given the award, case study is how they still went ahead to rightly make him MVP of the Mundial in spite of all the brouhaha as at then

The likes of the African player, Arsenal Stars, and the like of Zidane. I think this year world best is goin to be very hard to cast Except you have any star you, let me not start

But this world best is expected to come down to the likes of striker Thierry Henry(Arsenal, France) and Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy) to my own veiw Thierry deserve to be this years world best if you should take a look @ the past records

2005: Ronaldinho
2004: Ronaldinho
2003: Zidane (Real Madrid)
2002: Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2001: Figo (Real Madrid)
2000: Zidane (Juventus)
1999: Rivaldo (Barcelona)
1998: Zidane (Juventus)
1997: Ronaldo (Inter Milan)
1996: Ronaldo (Barcelona)
1995: Weah (AC Milan)
1994: Romario (Barcelona)
1993: Baggio (Juventus)
1992: Van Basten (AC Milan)
1991: Matthaeus (Inter Milan),

for the past 13 years we have not had the world best in England and this time around we have perform we deserve the World Best and that is Igwe Henry.

Well i think to me no Player has dominate the world football scene,So i think we just sit back and await the final decision
But i hope the my Thierry will win the awards this time around

People this article is so funny i am still in stiches, made my whole friday, this did

Where have all the great footballers gone?

Most of the names on Fifa's 30-man world player of the year shortlist aren't actually that good.

Scott MurrayOctober 13, 2006 11:35 AM

World-class players aren't really that world-class any more, are they? Actually, that's unfair: today's top stars have no peers when it comes to promoting Pringles, themselves, Adidas, themselves, themselves, EA Sports and themselves. But when they finally get round to pulling on their sponsored boots, there aren't too many of them who consistently deliver when it really matters. Here's that Fifa 2006 world player of the year shortlist in full:

Adriano (Internazionale, Brazil): This club-footed oaf spent the summer single-handedly dismantling the last vestiges of Brazil's tedious Mexico-70 samba-dancing joga-bonito Nike-advertising-agency nonsense once and for all. For that at least, the poor man's Emile Heskey has our thanks.

Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany): His only meaningful action in the World Cup saw him hoofing a free-kick three miles over the bar at the business end of Germany's semi-final against Italy. By the end of his Lampardesque year, the "best" all-action midfielder in the world was reduced to panicked two-footed lunges on the best all-action midfielder in the world, Momo Sissoko. Shame shame shame.

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy): Has spent an entire career behind defences which leave him with precious few crucial saves to make, so who really knows what he's capable of? Apart from Luis García? And Cesc Fábregas? Anyway, seeing that he makes Borat Sagdiyev look more hand-wringingly liberal than George Monbiot, even if he had six eight-fingered hands on extended springs he could eff off.

Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy): Wildly over-rated in the World Cup on account of having a) nothing really to do in any of the matches he was involved in other than saunter about, and b) nice hair. Currently in La Liga doing a passable impression of a slightly more confused Rio Ferdinand.

Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic): Dodgy on crosses, as the Greeks revealed in Euro 2004. Also, he's just let in a goal by Kevin Kilbane. Next!

Deco (Barcelona, Portugal): Sent off against Holland for the most idiotic ball-handling offence since the days of Claudio Caniggia. And that's about it.

Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast): Finally he pays back a whack of that £24m fee with 16 goals in the calendar year to date. Not bad, but for the record, that's five less than Peter Crouch has managed in the same period.

Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana): Currently having the rumbustiousness sucked out of him by Jose Mourinho's careful-careful coaching plan. Makes list ahead of Arjen Robben and Damien Duff, you'll note.

Luis Figo (Internazionale, Portugal): The holder of the world's most over-rated player trophy for five consecutive years from 1999, Figo finally got a chance to make a bid for immortality in this year's World Cup semi-final. And was marginally less successful than he was with his "performance" in the Euro 2004 final.

Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy): Robbie Savage with a beard.

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England): A couple of timely goals in Cardiff, there, Stevie. Though seeing you're always banging on about how your best position is in centre midfield, aren't you slightly embarrassed that every single time your club manager relents and lets you play there, there's enough room down the middle to spin a few doughnuts into an articulated lorry?

Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France): Didn't show in World Cup 98. Outshone by Wiltord (!) and Trezeguet (!!!) in Euro 2000. Failed to step up to the plate in Korea/Japan or Euro 2004. Sulked like a baby after going missing in this year's Champions League final. Took a dive, though he is not a woman, against both Spain and Portugal in Germany. And in the final he went miss , ah what the hell. One of the favourites, it says here!

Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil): Totally off form for the entire year.

Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany): A purler to open the World Cup for the Germans; nowhere to be seen when Fabio Grosso closed it for them.

Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England): Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany): Outstanding penalty save to help Arsenal reach the Champions League final; outstandingly poor decision-making in Paris to make them wish they hadn't bothered.

Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina): Have you ever seen anyone more nailed-on to miss a penalty than Riquelme in the last minute of that Champions League semi-final? Just look at those flickering eyes. If you're not blinded by the glistening beads of sweat forming on his forehead, that is. Nearly redeemed himself in the summer with a couple of fantastic displays for his country, but again went missing when it came to the crunch. José Pekerman wasn't the only Argentinian whose brain went into meltdown during the quarter-finals.

Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil): Those showreel flicks look real nice on Soccer AM's Skills Pedalo. But they don't seem to do the business very often in Champions League semi-finals, finals or crucial World Cup matches, do they?

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England): Has failed to score a goal in the Champions League or in international football for two years. For the record, that's 13 fewer than Peter Crouch has managed in the same period.

Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic): Currently engaged in a heavyweight tussle with Dimitar Berbatov to be crowned the most lightweight player plying his trade in north London. This nomination also suggests he's had a better 12 months than Fábregas, doesn't it?

Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine): Currently having the rumbustiousness sucked out of him by Jose Mourinho's careful-careful coaching plan to such an extent that he's been reduced to diving against Scotland! Oh dear. How the mighty have fallen (with triple salchow and pike).

Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France): Fantastic six years ago. Can we vote for Ronaldo, Laurent Blanc and Fernando Redondo as well?

Patrick Vieira (Internazionale, France): Arsène knows.

Zinédine Zidane (retired, France): For all his many faults, most of which were blatantly apparent before the World Cup final, Zizou has been the one "world-class" player in the last decade who's ever bothered himself enough to step it up a gear at the business end of tournaments. And now he's gone. Help! Someone's broken football!

You'll note I left out from Fifa's list Samuel Eto'o, Franck Ribéry, Miroslav Klose, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta and the fantastic, adversity-shunning twinkletoes of Cristiano Ronaldo. All of whom were, well, not bad. And in any case, you can't be finding fault in everyone just to make a facile point, can you?

From

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/10/13/where_have_all_the_great_footb.html

But seriously Zidane should win it, but i think either Henry (compensation) or an italian (compensation 2) will win it. Dinho does not deserve it, and i will be disgusted if they give it to any brazilian or argie for that matter (Could our african son ETO come through at the last minute and do us proud, fingers crossed everyone )

GOONER 89

If Henry does not win it who else?

Juan Riquelme should win the awards.
He was the most influencial player at the World Cup.

@Jackal

Whick kain talk be this one nah?

I thought we buried this issue of Riquelme this, riquelme that most influential and could not help steer his team into the latter stages of the Mundial even Appiah of Ghana was more influential for Ghana, stop these cruel jokes and stop throwing faeces in our faces, haba even Pirlo will love to headbutt you for not considering him way above Riquelme

Pirlo undoubtedly apart from Zizou (who was just too much for comparison with anyone) was the best midfielder of the mundial and towered head over Riquelme in no of passes completed in the prelims et al and even went ahead on the last day to win Man of the match award in the field which comprised the best players in the World

I wonder what all those English players are doing on that list, bunch of average and overhyped players they all are, imagine having Lampard on tha list, why not our own JJ Okocha then?

Adriano,Gatusso and co too make the list, abeg some politics dey go on for there o! Why them no put Onyekachi Okonkwo for the list

12 players from The EPL on that list, almost half, does that not mean they are telling us that the EPL is the best league where is Hustler, Codec, Chxta and Dayokanu?

@Loyika

Peter cech may be shaky at times but he is in the top 3 goalkeeper in the world.

Lampard: Englishness and current 2nd best player in the world( according to those idiots that voted).

@All

One English guy told me most of their guys make it for commercial purposes.

Ironically, the acclaimed most boring team in the world produced the highest number of nominees.

@ All fans

Some friends told me to do select my players from the nominated list as they perform in the following Areas :-

Best Goal Keeper

Best Defender

Best midfielder  &

The Best Striker

So before we go ahead, lets make our selection using the above format

World footballer of the year is coming from Italy,
y'all say something else

@Grizzly

Honestly since Zidane messed up, my mind is with the italians but can they vote for them?

Sentiments apart, if its not Zizou, it will be Henry

For me I vote This man "Ballack"

For me I vote "Ballack"

@ All

It's so nice to hear you vote who is goin to be the world best! I think he is rigth so say that we should nominate from that
may be I choose

peter cech from the post

canevaro from the defence

Zidane from midfield and

Henry from the top

itz going to be Kaka or Pirlo

.

Scott MurrayOctober 13, 2006 11:35 AM



!

Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil): Totally off form for the entire year.





y bring quotes from stupid english analysts that know nothin bout italian football

in case he didn't know,, ricky kaka scored the best goal of the champs league last season.

the only oppurtunity these ppl get to see these players comes in the UCL or the world cup.

it amazed me during the world cup when an english commentator didn't speak for himselfwhen he said fabio grosso was an unknown player prior to the world cup.

when everyone that follows the serie a saw his qualities a cpl seasons ago when palermo were promoted,

and his forays and accurate crosses helped luca toni make a name for himself.

Kaka for the award sha.

Oga Hustler abeg oh!!!

That article was written as a hmourous piece, why don't we nigerians understand sarcasm We are getting as bad as the Americans .

Did he not make comments about everyone nominated, all his statements were made "tongue in cheek" thats why i pasted it for us to all have a good laugh, not for everyone to start defending the player they liked. The award will go to which ever player it goes to, we all have no say in the desicion, all we can do is discuss it on our footie forum.

Hope i have explained it better for you .

But concerning the thread; i doubt Kaka will pick it up, like i said either an italian will win it or Henry will pick it up (although it should go to Zidane, but i guess his head got in the way )

GOONER 89

i understood what he was tryna say from the moment i started readin thru it.


but u don't u think it goes way beyond sarcasm when u say a player was TOTALLY OFF FORM FOR THE WHOLE OF LAST YR

i quite agree with him on adriano sha.lol

the best player should go to either ronaldinho or the IGWE (Henry)

Igwe Henry

king henry iv for shizzleeeeeeeeeeeeee

andrea Pirlo-for me he was the best player in germany even in the final match
thierry henry-his continued domination of the premiership scoring charts and taking arsenal to the final
buffonsimply the best goal keeper in the world even in serie b.see te game italy lost 3-1 to france he was fantastic