Germany dominates star list for Ballon d’Or
Print Edition
GERMANY dominated the FIFA Player of the Year shortlist, with six nominees among the 23 candidates announced yesterday, while the 10-man coaching shortlist was full of anomalies and controversy.
Juergen Klinsmann was included among the coaches after leading United States to the last 16 of the World Cup but Jorge Luis Pinto and Jose Pekerman, who took Costa Rica and Colombia, respectively to the last 8, were overlooked.
On the other hand, there was room for Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola, even though his team’s most important match of the year, a Champions League semifinal at home to Real Madrid, ended in a 0-4 defeat.
Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho also sneaked in despite failing to land a trophy on his return to Stamford Bridge.
The players’ list showed similar anomalies and appeared to be based more on European club football than FIFA’s flagship tournament.
Manuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos, Mario Goetze, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger were six players from world champion Germany to be included and beaten finalist Argentina had three, Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Javier Mascherano.
Last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo was duly named along with his Real Madrid teammates Gareth Bale (Wales) and James Rodriguez (Colombia).
Notable absentees included US goalkeeper Tim Howard and Costa Rica stopper Keylor Navas, both outstanding in Brazil.
FIFA, which organizes the award with France Football, said the final three candidates for both awards, known as the Ballon d’Or, would be announced on December 1 with the award ceremony on January 12.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
