Barcelona Leads the List in 2009 Ballon d’Or Finalists

By: Laurie | October 18th, 2009

ronaldo-ballon-dor-2008 So who’s going to win it? Lionel Messi? Cristiano Ronaldo? Or a dark horse like, say, Edin Dzeko of VfL Wolfsburg?

The short list for the 2009 Player of the Year (aka the Ballon d’Or) is in, and it contains all the usual suspects: Messi, Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres, Thierry Henry… And a few more unusual suspects, like Dzeko or Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema.

(No offense, but…Benzema? You know I’ve been a big fan of his in the past, but in 2009? Seriously? Was their criteria “We need a token Frenchman” or “But this guy cost Real Madrid a boatload of money”?)

Here’s the breakdown of the 30-player short list for European Player of the Year, by current league*:

13 – Spanish La Liga
10 – English Premier League
4 – Italian Serie A
2 – German Bundesliga
1 – French Ligue 1

*obviously this doesn’t account for players like Samuel Eto’o or Kaka who logged more miles in another league.

Barcelona is the best-represented club with six: Thierry Henry, Xavi, Yaya Toure, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi. (Feel free to swap out Zlatan and Eto’o as desired.) This is to be expected from a club that took league, cub and Champions League titles all in one year.

Manchester United, the CL runners up, have three: Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney.

Real Madrid seems somewhat over-represented with four — given that Barcelona took everything last year — until you consider that everyone but Iker Casillas is a recent purchase. (Others are Karim Benzema, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.) Chelsea (John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba) and Inter (Samuel Eto’o, Julio Cesar and Maicon) are also well-represented.

The winner will be chosen by football writers. Final announcement will be in December.

What do you think? Any glaring omissions, other than the entire native populations of Italy and Germany?

And who do you think is going to take it?

Complete list of finalists:

Andrei Arshavin (Russia) Arsenal
Karim Benzema (France) Olympique Lyon then Real Madrid
Iker Casillas (Spain) Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) Manchester United then Real Madrid
Diego (Brazil) Werder Bremen then Juventus
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) Chelsea
Edin Dzeko (Bosnia) VfL Wolfsburg
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) Barcelona then Inter Milan
Cesc Fabregas (Spain) Arsenal
Fernando Torres (Spain) Liverpool
Diego Forlan (Uruguay) Atletico Madrid
Steven Gerrard (England) Liverpool
Ryan Giggs (Wales) Manchester United
Yoann Gourcuff (France) Bordeaux
Thierry Henry (France) Barcelona
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) Inter Milan then Barcelona
Andres Iniesta (Spain) Barcelona
Julio Cesar (Brazil) Inter Milan
Kaka (Brazil) AC Milan then Real Madrid
Frank Lampard (England) Chelsea
Maicon (Brazil) Inter Milan
Lionel Messi (Argentina) Barcelona
Luis Fabiano (Brazil) Sevilla
Franck Ribery (France) Bayern Munich
Wayne Rooney (England) Manchester United
John Terry (England) Chelsea
Nemanja Vidic (Serbia) Manchester United
David Villa (Spain) Valencia
Xavi (Spain) Barcelona
Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast) Barcelona

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Ngoran Junior

Samuel Eto in the list.He is the best he deserves to win
the best player award he scored twice in two champions league finals.
Lord Mitte

Did i just noticed Samuel Eto`o? He will definitely win the ballon d`or this year. He was excelent at Barcelona and was the turning point in the champions league final,which led to Barcelona becoming CHAMPIONS.He won trophies at barcelona.He has swiftly adapted to the italian league and has been very significant in his new team Inter Milan with some brilliant goals to his name. He has been able to lead Cameroon National team to top its group from bottom,in the 2010 world cup qualifiers. Eto`o is absolutely sensational. We need an African to hold this trophy once small. Mitterand Timah(Buea - Cameroon)
Lord Mitte

Did i just noticed Samuel Eto`o? He will definitely win the ballon d`or this year. He was excelent at Barcelona and was the turning point in the champions league final,which led to Barcelona becoming CHAMPIONS.He won trophies at barcelona.He has swiftly adapted to the italian league and has been very significant in his new team Inter Milan with some brilliant goals to his name. He has been able to lead Cameroon National team to top its group from bottom,in the 2010 world cup qualifiers. Eto`o is absolutely sensational. We need an African to hold this once small.
Theo

I want Fabiano to win as a sevilla supporter but i think messi's gonna get it
Sarit

If you don't understand Ryan Giggs being on the list, you haven't seen him play recently.
Oliviero

the one I really don't get is ryan giggs...what is he doing there? and what about the huge omission of Buffon...
Laurie

What's funny is it used to be fifty.
Ian

Overall I have to agree that the biggest problem is picking 30 at all. 30 finalists seems like a bit much. 5 or even 10, maybe, but 30?

Also if you are going to pick 30, a bit surprising to see no Dutchmen on the list. The record shutout streak at United was only partially in 2009, so I guess that's why no van der Sar.
ish

1. messi
2. iniesta
3. xavi

its gonna be a barce love fest.
Shane

Essien should be on the list. I know he missed a big chunk of last season but when he came back Chelsea were a completely different team. Plus he led Ghana back to the World Cup.
Nick

Arshavin has to get a good look. He didn't win any trophies, so he won't win the award, but he's been excellent since last year.
alex w

why do they even start with 30? can you imagine if they actually gave the ballon d'or to some of these players on the list? at least 20 out of the 30 players on this would spark outrage should their name be announced as winner.
Laurie

Funny that I of all people hadn't noticed that Anelka wasn't there. You're right -- it's kind of shocking. (Although the difference in goal numbers for Golden Boot in 2008 and 2009 are kind of shocking as well. But still.)
Thomas

Nicolas Anelka was the Chelsea (and EPL) top scorer last season, but he doesn't make the list while three of his teammates do. Nico gets no love. When was the last time the reigning EPL top scorer didn't make the list?
It's interesting to look at it based on nationality.
Spain: 6
Brazil: 5
France: 4
England: 4
Cote d'ivoire: 2
Argentina: 1
Cameroon: 1
Uruguay: 1
Serbia: 1
Bosnia: 1
Wales: 1
Sweden: 1
Portugal: 1
Russia: 1
Shane

It will be a shame when Messi wins this even though Xavi is so clearly the best player on Barcelona and does much better for his country than Messi does for his.
Laurie

As I was writing it I saw it less as "token dig" and more as both "hmm, no silverware but four nominations" and "isn't it interesting that Real Madrid bought three Ballon d'Or finalists in the transfer window?"

I suppose that could be interpreted as a dig, but my thoughts were more along the lines of: they're showing they're really wanting to compete with Barcelona this year, and I'm curious to see if their purchase strategy will work.

For the record, I don't love or hate either Barcelona or Real Madrid.

(The Benzema thing, though? I was a huge fan earlier in his career, before his ego took over his brain. But I still like him enough to hope that will change in Madrid.)

And when it comes down to silverware vs. nominations, I could probably also have pointed fingers at Liverpool and Arsenal. So... What the heck. I'll do that now. :-)
Ryan McManus

... and the token dig at Real Madrid.