Top Six Ballon D’Or Candidates

Ollie Irish

3rd, September 2010

27 Comments

By Ollie Irish

If Uncle Sepp asked us to pick a six-man shortlist for this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or, here are the players who would make the Pies cut:

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WES SNEIJDER (Inter & Netherlands) - Imperious for Inter all season, carried that form into the World Cup, where he was one of the few big names to live up to his star billing

Photos: PA

From that shortlist, I would give it to Xavi, who had such a brilliant season for club and country, and rarely put a foot wrong. He’s a passing machine and makes the game look almost ridiculously easy.

For the record, Jose Mourinho would give it to Wes Sneijder, while Alex Ferguson’s thinks Diego Milito will win it. They’re both wrong.

Who gets your vote for this year’s Ballon d’Or?


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27 Comments

  1. Ben Cornelius says:

    i assume leaving Titus Bramble out of the list was a publishing error?

  2. Ollie Irish says:

    Yes, damn!

  3. Trololololo says:

    Erm, Arjen Robben obviously. World Cup final, CL Final, knocked out United pretty much by himself, reduced Ribery from one of football’s most valueable commodities to a luxury player by comparison… It’s between him, Xavi and Sneijder for me.

  4. Isaac says:

    Diego Forlan would be worth a shortlisting too in my opinion.

  5. Andrew Thompson says:

    where is messsi and C-ron?
    disgrace to leave them out

  6. James says:

    There’s this young lad called messi, dont know if you’ve heard of him? Scored 47 goals last year? No? Okay then.

  7. pete says:

    where the fuck is Bastian Schweinsteiger?

  8. Michael says:

    Definetly sneijder, he was even better for club and country than xavi

  9. bigdutch says:

    considering this is for the European player of the yr. therefor no messi

  10. bigdutch says:

    ignore that last comment i’m an idiot

  11. TheWombat says:

    It really comes down to either Xavi or Sneijder.
    Really, an International tournament (Euros or World Cup) always is the most important tournament in deciding the Ballon d’or. Milito cannot win since he did not play in the World Cup. It has been 15 years since a player on a German team won it, that rules out all the Bayern/Germany players. I think its pretty obvious to win it, you would have to be either Dutch or Spanish and play for either Inter or Barca. Xavi had the better World Cup, so Xavi wins.

  12. Jonathan says:

    1. Xavi
    2. Ozil
    3. Iniesta
    4. Lampard
    5. Sneijder
    6. Messi

  13. spectator says:

    i think we all know heskey will run away with it.

  14. marty says:

    Could be Xavi – after all every year with a World Cup it has been won by a winner of the World Cup – they anticipated Ronaldinho would have a great 2006 byt no WC glory so they gave it to him in 2005 :P and 2006 – Cannavaro. The WC winner.

    It’s not Sneijder’s fault his team lost the only trophy he was missing but it’s not Xavi’s either that Inter managed to keep damage to a minimum with 16% posession… All in all, Xavi deserves it because he’s been BRILLIANT ever since Euro 2008. Barcelona and Spain are kind of indebterd to him – and they both managed to make something spectacular.

  15. marty says:

    It will also matter which one of the two will have a better start to the season. Wes has Benitez… he’s disadvantaged

  16. megaman789 says:

    This award is pretty much useless.
    Obviously the committe usually gives it to the goalscorers like messi, cron or others which I think is mere stupidity.
    I hope Sneijder wins it.

  17. Meji says:

    Hopefully Xavi or Sneijder. If not my vote automatically goes to Titus Bramble.

  18. deckard says:

    it’s true that defensive players usually get over-looked, aside from a few exceptions(canna, kahn etc), and that’s quite a disgrace.

    where’s schweisteiger for instance? he was outstanding as controlling/holding midfielder in bayern’s double season and where they got the cl final. and, for me, he was the best player of the world cup. he showed incredible maturity and flair for a guy who’s only 25. he’s been a mainstay in the national team since he was 19.

    anyway, the world cup will play a big role in the decision maker’s decision and therefore i’d say it’ll come down to sneijder and xavi. i think neither had an exceptional season – sneijder was interrupted with a lot of niggling injuries and his one game he truly dominated at the highest level was away to chelsea in the cl – and xavi had a lesser season then in in 08-09 imo when barca played much better football. they came up big during the wc though, especially sneijder with his many goals and assists, so it’ll probably be him who gets the award. and i think a dutch player hasn’t won it for ages, bergkamp possibly being the last if i remember correctly.

  19. J says:

    1. Xavi
    2. Ozil
    3. Iniesta
    4. Lampard
    5. Sneijder
    6. Messi

  20. J says:

    PS- I was missing a hard laugh, Jonathan.

  21. horlammy-lagos says:

    being fair to this whole thing it should go to the best player in the team that won the world cup.let check since 94-romario.98-zidane.02-de lima,06-canavaro.so definetely winner should be btw xavi and iniesta.and coparing sneider and xavi its about who had d last laugh sneiderCl,and xavi d ultimate Wc.

  22. michael says:

    Messi scored lots of goals but he was very poor in the world cup.
    Xavi was excellent in LA LIGA and the WORLD CUP. Sneijder, also..won the treble in italy and reached the champions league final. He could possibly win it..because he played well in every big game last year, which can’t be said about messi. so its either XAVI or SNEIJDER for me.

  23. […] I wrote last month, I would give it to the exemplary Xavi. But who gets your vote? Click […]

  24. hakim says:

    i think diego forlan should replace lampard

  25. yusra says:

    u all r fools
    and the list sucks ;)

  26. faisal says:

    why should the strikers always get the ballon d’or i am a messi fan but i play football as well and i am a midfielder. as a midfielder i am really want to XAVI or INIESTA win this year’s ballon d’or

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