bluenine wrote:1. Kaka
2. Ronaldo
3. Ronaldinho/Drogba
Thats what I think will happen.... names matter for WPOTY ... my choice will be Ibra!
on that note the good marcotti with an article about it all. its from last year:
Over the next month or so, you are likely to hear all sorts of hype and background chatter about the "World Player of the Year" award. And you may wonder why -- as could happen this year -- three different guys can go around proclaiming themselves to have been voted the best player in the world.
Indeed, it's a little bit like boxing, where four different dudes -- all of them, curiously, hailing from former Soviet republics -- can proudly put the "Heavyweight Champion of the World" line on their résumés.
There are three major player-of-the-year awards: the Ballon d'Or, or European Footballer of the Year, FIFA's World Player of the Year and FIFPro's Player of the Year. This year, like never before, they are likely to go off in different directions.
The Ballon d'Or is the oldest award, established by the magazine France Football way back in 1956, when Sir Stanley Matthews was recognized. France Football puts together a short list of candidates, and its jury of 54 journalists (one from each UEFA member state) votes on the winner. Strictly speaking, it's a European -- not a world -- award, as to be eligible you need to play in Europe (which is why Carlos Tévez wasn't short-listed last year). In practice, since most of the world's best ply their trade in the old world, it is very much a global award.
FIFA's bauble is awarded by a vote of national team coaches and captains -- just over 400 in total, though judging from last year's numbers, a fair few forget to return their ballots. It has been running since 1991.
The third and newest award is that of FIFPro, the international organization made up of players' associations from around the globe. This is only the second year that it will stage an awards ceremony (its prize will get handed out on Nov. 6 in Athens), and it has numbers on its side: Any of the 43,000 professionals from its 42 member associations is entitled to vote, though how many bother to do so is another issue.
To prevent embarrassment, each award has a short list. This is necessary because, like the humorous folks who write in the name of joke candidates on real electoral ballots, voters can make curious choices. Like nominating Russell Latapy as player of the year, as one national team manager did in the FIFA vote a few seasons back. Or, as France Football's Albanian jurist did in the 1980s, regularly picking one of his countrymen as Europe's best player.
Of course, the short lists vary. FIFPro has 55 names (theoretically one for every position in a World XI), the Ballon d'Or 50 and FIFA just 30. Now, you might think that if you're good enough to be on FIFA's list of the best, you'd be a lock for the other two -- not so. In fact, only 23 players appear on all three short lists.
Of the three, FIFA's award tends to be more of a popularity contest. That's because most of the voters, frankly, don't watch much soccer. The opinion of the coach of Montserrat counts as much as that of Marcello Lippi, whose team won the World Cup. Thus, it is far more likely to be influenced by things such as highlight reels, big names and the World Cup.
France Football's award is definitely Francophile in terms of its short list. Yes, the likes of Cris, Grégory Coupet and Ludovic Giuly -- none of whom had any impact at Germany 2006, but all of whom are either French or play in France -- are among the world's top 50, according to the brain trust at France Football.
Mercifully, because the vote is spread around Europe, the winners are a little more balanced -- though, again, some guys have a built-in advantage. Andriy Shevchenko, for example, won last year on the strength of the former Soviet republics. If you were to exclude their votes (and they only exist because of the breakup of the U.S.S.R.), Ronaldinho would have taken the award.
In theory, FIFPro's award ought to be more meaningful. After all, recognition from one's peers is the highest accolade, no? The problem is that anyone who has hung out with professionals will tell you that some of them would rather stick a fork in their ear than watch soccer on TV. Also, voting is limited to the 42 member associations, which is rather harsh.
Within those 42, some -- read: Italy, England, Spain -- are much larger than others, which means they have more voting members. And, of course, it also depends on how diligent a member association is in making its members fill out and return ballots, as well as how seriously they take the vote.
So after reading all this, you're still wondering who's going to win, right?
The answer is that I have no idea, but I suspect we'll get three different winners. Many of those who shone in the first six months of the year (Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Kaká, Frank Lampard, Juan Román Riquelme) either didn't go or weren't too impressive at the World Cup. Those who did impress in Germany are either guys who don't usually win awards, such as defenders or goalkeepers (my choice, Gigi Buffon, Jens Lehmann, Fabio Cannavaro), or guys from lower-profile nations or clubs, who tend to get overlooked (Didier Drogba, Miroslav Klose, Franck Ribéry).
Whatever happens, there is sure to be endless debate. Which is fine, just as long as nobody breathes the fumes in his garage long enough to vote for Zinédine Zidane.
Leaving aside the fact that Zizou retired (and thus should not even be eligible), going through the motions for a few months at Real Madrid and playing 2½ good games in Germany should not make you Player of the Year. And that's without mentioning that his actions may well have cost France the World Cup.
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