Who will be honoured with the title of FIFA
World Player and FIFA Women's World Player for 2008? FIFA has today
announced the names of the nominees (see below) and the final
decision will be made by the captains and head coaches of the men's
and women's national teams.
At the beginning of December, FIFA will
announce the names of the three men and women who have received the
most votes and the winners will be revealed at the 18th FIFA World
Player Gala at the Zurich Opera House on 12 January 2009.
The lists of 23 male and 10 female
candidates for these prestigious awards have been drawn up by
football experts from the Football Committee and the Committee for
Women's Football and the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The following 23 men (in
alphabetical order) are in contention for the title of FIFA World
Player 2008:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Sergio Agüero
(Argentina), Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany),
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Deco (Portugal),
Didier Drogba (Côte d'Ivoire), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc
Fabregas (Spain), Steven Gerrard (England), Zlatan Ibrahimovic
(Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Kaká (Brazil), Frank Lampard
(England), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Franck Ribéry (France),
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), John Terry (England), Fernando Torres
(Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain) and
Xavi (Spain).
The following 10 women (in
alphabetical order) are in contention for the title of FIFA Women's
World Player 2008:
Nadine Angerer (Germany), Shannon Boxx
(USA), Cristiane (Brazil), Daniela (Brazil), Marta (Brazil), Birgit
Prinz (Germany), Christine Sinclair (Canada), Kelly Smith
(England), Hope Solo (USA) and Ingvild Stensland (Norway).
