Who will be honoured with the title of FIFA World Player and FIFA Women's World Player for 2009? FIFA has today announced the names of the players on the short lists (see below) and the final decision will be made by the captains and head coaches of the men's and women's national teams.
At the beginning of December, FIFA will announce the names of the five men and five women who have received the most votes and the winners will be revealed at the 19th FIFA World Player Gala at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 21 December 2009.
It should be noted that coaches and captains may not vote for players from the national team they coach or play for.
The lists of 23 male and ten female candidates for these prestigious awards have been drawn up by football experts from the Football Committee and the Committee for Women's Football and the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The following 23 men (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the title of FIFA World Player 2009;
Michael Ballack (Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Diego (Brazil), Didier Drogba (Côte d'Ivoire), Michael Essien (Ghana), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Steven Gerrard (England), Thierry Henry (France), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Kaká (Brazil), Frank Lampard (England), Luis Fabiano (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Carles Puyol (Spain), Franck Ribéry (France), Wayne Rooney (England), John Terry (England), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain)
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I reckon Messi will win it this year, but would also like to see Iniesta or Xavi taking it - pretty much guessing it will be a barca player because of their fantastic year.
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