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FIFA on Tuesday announced the official list of 23 footballers who are competing for the title of the best player of 2011. The winner, chosen by the 208 national team coaches, captains, and journalists belonging to FIFA, will receive the symbolic "Golden Ball" on January 9th in Zurich. On December 5th, the lists of candidates in all categories will be shortened to three. The list of contenders had already appeared in the media a few days ago, but it was preliminary information not supported by an official announcement. Among the official candidates, footballers playing in the Spanish league dominate, with eight of them representing the "Barcelona" club. The favorite is considered to be the forward of this team Lionel Messi, for whom it would be the third consecutive title of best player. Winning it would repeat the record of the legendary Michel Platini. In addition to Messi, players from the Catalan club such as Eric Abidal, Dani Alves, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, David Villa, and Xavi, as well as Cesc Fabregas, who signed a contract this summer, are included. Interestingly, in the shortened list, for only the second time in seven years of its history, there is a footballer not playing in Europe - 19-year-old "Santos" forward Neymar from the Brazilian league. The only other such player was Juan Roman Riquelme, who belonged to "Boca Juniors" but was on loan to Spanish "Villarreal" at the time. Five players are from Madrid "Real" team - Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Iker Casillas, Mesut Ozil, and Xabi Alonso, two each from "Man Utd" (Wayne Rooney and Nani) and Munich "Bayern" (Thomas Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger). Representing the victorious Uruguay team in the "Copa America" tournament are the pair of strikers - Diego Forlan (Milan "Inter") and Luis Suarez ("Liverpool"). Among the coaches, mentioned are the Champions League and Spanish league winners Pep Guardiola ("Barcelona") and Sir Alex Ferguson ("Man Utd"), Rudi Garcia ("Lille"), Jurgen Klopp (Dortmund "Borussia"), and Andre Villas Boas ("Porto", now at London "Chelsea"). 23 candidates for FIFA Best Player of the Year: (player, representing country, club(s) in 2011) Eric Abidal (France, "Barcelona") Sergio Aguero (Argentina, "Man City") Karim Benzema (France, "Real") Iker Casillas (Spain, "Real") Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, "Real") Dani Alves (Brazil, "Barcelona") Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, Milan "Inter" and Makhachkala "Anzhi") Cesc Fabregas (Spain, London "Arsenal" and "Barcelona") Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Madrid "Atletico" and "Inter") Andres Iniesta (Spain, "Barcelona") Thomas Muller (Germany, "Bayern") Nani (Portugal, "Man Utd") Neymar (Brazil, Santos) Lionel Messi (Argentina, "Barcelona") Mesut Ozil (Germany, "Real") Gerard Pique (Spain, "Barcelona") Wayne Rooney (England, "Man Utd") Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, "Bayern") Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands, "Inter") Luis Suarez (Uruguay, "Liverpool") David Villa (Spain, "Barcelona") Xavi (Spain, "Barcelona") Xabi Alonso (Spain, "Real") FIFA Coaches of the Year: (coach, representing country, team) Vicente Del Bosque (Spain, Spain national team) Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland, "Man Utd") Rudi Garcia (France, "Lille") Pep Guardiola (Spain, "Barcelona") Jurgen Klopp (Germany, Dortmund "Borussia") Joachim Low (Germany, Germany national team) Jose Mourinho (Portugal, "Real") Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay, Uruguay national team) Andre Villas Boas (Portugal, "Porto") Arsene Wenger (France, "Arsenal")
