Seven members of Spain’s World Cup winning squad have been nominated for FIFA’s Ballon d’Or for 2010.
Xabi Alonso, Iker Casillas, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Xavi, and David Villa have all been named.
And eleven of the 23 nominations currently ply their trade in Spain’s La Liga, far outnumbering the four from Italy’s Serie A, and only one from the English Premier League.
Five Germans have also been named following their relative success in the World Cup in South Africa in the summer.
The Ballon d’Or award is considered the highest individual achievement for professional footballers.
The award used to be called the European Footballer of the Year, but since 2010 it has been merged with FIFA’s World Player of the Year award.
Originally, only European players from European clubs could win the Ballon d’Or, so neither Pele nor Diego Maradona have won the award.
But in 1995, the rule was changed so that non-European players would be eligible, and that year the Liberian George Weah was named the winner.
Certainly, the previous winners of the accolade reflects its reputation as the finest award available for individual players.
The first Ballon d’Or was won by Stanley Matthews in 1956 and since then, names such as Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Andriy Shevchenko and Ronaldo have received the award.
The last two players to have won it, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have both been nominated despite them both having a relativley poor World Cup.
The shortlist of three players will be announced on December 6th with the winner being named in a ceremony in Zurich on January 10th.
The only Welshman to have ever been named on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or was John Charles, who came third in 1959 whilst playing for Italian giants Juventus.
Nominations for FIFA’s Ballon d’Or 2010: 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 Oezil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).
