Saturday, 01 November 08, 01:04 AM
From the nominations provided by FIFPro, who would have been in your World XI?
Nominees (teams played for last season)
Goalkeepers:
Artur Boruc [Poland/ Celtic]; Gianluigi Buffon [Italy/ Juventus]; Iker Casillas [Spain/ Real Madrid]; Petr Cech [Czech Republic/ Chelsea], Edwin van der Sar [Holland/ Manchester United].
Defenders:
Daniel Alves [Brazil/ Sevilla]; José Bosingwa [Portugal/ FC Porto]; Fabio Cannavaro [Italy/ Real Madrid]; Ricardo Carvalho [Portugal/ Chelsea]; Gaël Clichy [France, Arsenal]; Ashley Cole
[England/ Chelsea]; Patrice Evra [France/ Manchester United]; Rio Ferdinand [England/ Manchester United]; Philipp Lahm [Germany/ Bayern Munich]; Ferreira Lucio [Brazil/Bayern Munich]; Paolo
Maldini [Italy/ AC Milan]; Alessandro Nesta [Italy/ AC Milan]; Pepe [Portugal/ Real Madrid]; Carles Puyol [Spain/ Barcelona]; Sergio Ramos [Spain/ Real Madrid]; John Terry [England/ Chelsea];
Nemanja Vidic [Serbia/ Manchester United]; Gianluca Zambrotta [Italy/ Barcelona]; Javier Zanetti [Argentina/ Inter]; Yuri Zhirkov [Russia/ CSKA Moscow].
Midfielders:
Deco [Portugal/ Barcelona]; Michael Ballack [Germany/ Chelsea]; Michael Essien [Ghana/ Chelsea]; Gennaro Gattuso [Italy/ AC Milan]; Cesc Fabregas [Spain/ Arsenal]; Steven Gerrard [England/
Liverpool; Andrès Iniesta [Spain/ Barcelona]; Kaká [Brazil/ AC Milan]; Frank Lampard [England/ Chelsea]; Javier Mascherano [Argentina/ Liverpool]; Andrea Pirlo [Italy/ AC Milan]; Franck Ribery
[France/ Bayern Munich]; Marcos Senna [Spain/ Villareal]; Wesley Sneijder [Holland/ Real Madrid]; Xavi [Spain/ Barcelona].
Forwards:
Andrei Arshavin [Russia/ Zenit St Petersburg]; Dimitar Berbatov [Bulgaria/ Tottenham Hotspur]; Didier Drogba [Ivory Coast/ Chelsea]; Samuel Eto'o [Cameroon/ Barcelona]; Thierry Henry [France/
Barcelona]; Zlatan Ibrahimovic [Sweden/ Inter]; Lionel Messi [Argentina/ Barcelona]; Ruud van Nistelrooy [Holland/ Real Madrid]; Ronaldinho [Brazil/ Barcelona]; Cristiano Ronaldo [Portugal/
Manchester United]; Wayne Rooney [England/ Manchester United]; Carlos Tévez [Argentina/ Manchester United]; Luca Toni [Italy/ Bayern Munich]; Fernando Torres [Spain/ Liverpool]; David Villa
[Spain/ Valencia].
Here is the official World XI according to FIFPro:
Thursday, 30 October 08, 12:47 AM
3 players are in the running for the accolade, which is voted for by international captains and managers, with the award winner revealed on January 12 at a ceremony in Zurich.
All of the players listed are currently playing their football in Europe, with the English Premier League heading the nominations with 10 representatives.
Spain’s La Liga has 8 players nominated, while there are just 3 listed from Italy’s Serie A.
Germany’s Bundesliga and the Russian top-flight complete the nominations with one player each.
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently won the FifPro player of the year award, is the current favourite to win the accolade.
However, he can expect heavy pressure from the likes of Iker Casillas, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi and Kaka, who won last year’s award.
Full list of nominees for the Fifa World Player of the Year award:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal, Togo), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, Argentina), Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg, Russia), Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain), Deco (Chelsea, Portugal), Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal, Spain), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan, Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain), Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich, France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal), John Terry (Chelsea, England), Fernando Torres (Liverpool, Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, Holland), David Villa (Valencia, Spain) and Xavi (Barcelona, Spain).
Brazilian players have dominated the history of the award with 8 winners since its inception in 1991. Barcelona have been the most successful club, having had 6 winners playing for them when picking up the trophy.
Thursday, 23 October 08, 01:59 AM
The impresario is set to stand for the top job at the Bernabéu against current incumbent, Ramón Calderón, and is planning to copy the plan laid down by previous chief Florentino Pérez.
Under Pérez, Madrid signed such star names as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo and Villalonga believes that Madrid should once again be looking to sign stars of a similar stature.
"Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaká should be at Real Madrid," he told COPE radio. "I will copy the model that Florentino used.
"I have called Florentino and I expressed my desire to stand and use his ideas, but it will be on my own terms.
"I have a lot of respect and admiration for Florentino and I think we should continue the good work that he did."
While Pérez coined the phrase Zidanes and Pavónes to describe his idea of combining star names with homegrown players, Villalonga has tweaked that idea.
"If I do win then I would like to introduce a system of Zidanes and Butragueños. We have to call upon the talent from the youth teams and combine them with world class players," he added.
On Pick Your World XI