Hot favourite

By Chris,
October 21 2008

Four Manchester United players have been nominated for the 2008 Ballon D'Or. Cristiano Ronaldo is the huge favourite to win the award – with Edwin van Der Sar, Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic join him on a 30-strong shortlist. Ronaldo netted 42 goals last season as United secured a magnificent double – though his astonishing achievements were somewhat overshadowed by the summer’s Real Madrid saga.

Ronaldo is tipped by almost all pundits to win the award - though Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres and Kaka are considered as potential outsiders.

The inclusion of four Red Devils on the list is testimony to the fantastic season the club had.

Whilst Ronaldo's goals were the catalyst for United's success in England and on the continent, the entire squad performed consistently well throughout the campaign.

The winner will be announced on December 2nd with some 96 well-respected sports journalists from around the world casting their vote in a poll organised by France Football magazine.

The complete shortlist is as follows:

Cristiano Ronaldo
Edwin Van Der Sar
Nemanja Vidic
Wayne Rooney
Frank Lampard
Didier Drogba
Michael Ballack
Steven Gerrard
Fernando Torres
Cesc Fabregas
Emmanuel Adebayor
Ruud Van Nistlerooy
Sergio Ramos
Pepe
Rafael Van Der Vaart
Iker Casillas
Lionel Messi
Xavi Hernandez
Samuel Eto'o
Sergio Aguero
Marcos Senna
David Villa
Ricardo Kaka
Gianluigi Buffon
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Franck Ribery
Luca Toni
Andrei Arshavin
Yuri Zhirkov
Karim Benzema

Four Reds nominated for prestigious Ballon D'Or

Discussion started by manutdweb.com , 21/10/2008 14:44

manutdweb.com
21/10/2008 14:44

Four Reds nominated for prestigious Ballon D'Or

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redlyn
21/10/2008 17:39

The only person who has a glimmer of hope against Ronaldo is Messi. last season Ronaldo mustve edged it scoring all those goals and winning the CL even tho his performance at times left a lot to be desired. But I think over the course of their careers messi will surpass ronaldo.

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redlyn
21/10/2008 17:47

er, is there a diff between ballon dor and WPOTY?

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ManUnited4Life
21/10/2008 23:06

Ballon D'Or is the European Player of the Year and then there's the WPOTY.

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ArsenalForever
22/10/2008 04:24

kaka as an outsider? what did he do in the past year?

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Born_To_Do_Dishes
22/10/2008 17:17

No offence to vidic but seriously?

over ferdinand, @#$%& off.

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The Mad Hatter
22/10/2008 17:27

Complete joke Ferdinand isn't there.

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Webmaster - Chris
23/10/2008 11:55

The nominations for these sorts of things always confuse me.
There’s been uproar that Ronaldinho and Henry didn’t make the final list – but why, particularly Ronaldinho, do they deserve inclusion?
Sometimes I think it’s based on names more than ability over the season.
Ronaldo is certain to win though.

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redlyn
23/10/2008 16:50

Quote:

ManUnited4Life
Ballon D'Or is the European Player of the Year and then there's the WPOTY.

academic. they both only really contested by european based players. I guess the main diff is in the nomination process. Stoopid magazine the one, and respected opinions the other. Both good at throwing up random names tho.

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