11 PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS UP FOR BALLON D’OR

The Premier League has 11 players short-listed for the Ballon d’Or, more than any other league.

The Premier League leads the way in terms of player representation at this years Ballon d’Or with 11 players in the mix. Spain’s La Liga comes a close second with 10 players selected from the condensed list of 30 by France Football Magazine.

Disappointingly, just three England Internationals are selected – Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard – for the Golden Ball Award.

Manchester United and Portugal star Ronaldo is the favourite to win the award which will be announced on the 2nd December 2008.Whilst England have the three nominee’s, Champions of Europe Spain have seven players in the list – Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Senna, Iker Casillas and Xavi.

The Serie A players has three players nominated – Kaka, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gianluigi Buffon.

List of 30 Nominees:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo.
Sergio AgĂĽero (Atletico Madrid), Argentine.
AndreĂŻ Archavine (Z'nith Saint-P'tersbourg), Russia.
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany.
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France.
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus Turin), Italy.
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal.
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast.
Samuel Eto’o (FC Barcelone), Cameroon.
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain.
Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC), Spain.
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), England.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden.
Kaka (Milan AC), Brazil.
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England.
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelone), Argentina.
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal.
Franck Rib'ry (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 (Hamburg SV puis Real Madrid), Netherlands.
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands.
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia.
David Villa (Valence CF), Spain.
Xavi (FC Barcelone), Spain.
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscou), Russia.