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FIFA has announced a list of 30 candidates for the title of the best player of the year. It is believed that this year the fiercest battle will take place between World vice-champion French striker Thierry Henry and World champion Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro. In 2004 and 2005, Brazilian Ronaldinho was recognized as the best player, who is also among the candidates this year. Last year, the Brazilian received the highest number of votes in the entire history of the election and significantly outperformed Frank Lampard, who came in second. The final list includes as many as six players from the "Chelsea" team: Englishman F. Lampard, the main goalkeeper of the club and the Czech national team Petr Čech, Michael Essien from Ghana, Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba, German football star Michael Ballack, and Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko. "Milan" and the Champions League winner "Barcelona" club each have four players. A total of twelve contenders compete in the English "Premier" League, eight represent Italian "Serie A" teams, six Spanish clubs, two German clubs, and one French club. This list also includes former French national team goalkeeper Zinedine Zidane, who ended his football career, perhaps with the most memorable incident of the year - headbutting Italian Marco Materazzi in the World Cup finals. Contenders for the best world footballer of the year include Z. Zidane, Ronaldinho, and AC Milan defender Luis Figo, who are the only candidates who have previously won this FIFA award. The Frenchman has claimed this title three times: in 1998 and 2000 while playing for Juventus and in 2003 representing Real Madrid. Portuguese L. Figo won in 2001 wearing the same Real Madrid jersey. It is worth mentioning that the last three titles were won by players in defensive positions. Now a vote will take place where national team coaches and captains will cast their votes for one of the players mentioned in the list, and in early December, it will be revealed which trio receives the most votes. The winner will be announced on December 18 at an awards ceremony in Zurich. At the 16th annual ceremony, awards will also be presented to the best players of the 2006 World Cup - the prizes will go to the top three players Z. Zidane, F. Cannavaro, and Andrea Pirlo, top scorers Miroslav Klose, Hernan Crespo, and Ronaldo, as well as the best goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the teams that promoted the best game, Brazil and Spain. List of candidates for the FIFA best player of the year title: Adriano ("Inter", Brazil), Michael Ballack ("Chelsea", Germany), Gianluigi Buffon ("Juventus", Italy), Fabio Cannavaro ("Real", Italy), Cristiano Ronaldo ("Manchester United", Portugal), Petr Cech ("Chelsea", Czech Republic), Deco ("Barcelona", Portugal), Didier Drogba ("Chelsea", Ivory Coast), Michael Essien ("Chelsea", Ghana), Samuel Eto'o ("Barcelona", Cameroon), Luis Figo ("Inter", Portugal), Gennaro Gattuso ("Milan", Italy), Steven Gerrard ("Liverpool", England), Thierry Henry ("Arsenal", France), Kaka ("Milan", Brazil), Miroslav Klose ("Werder", Germany), Philipp Lahm ("Bayern", Germany), Frank Lampard ("Chelsea", England), Jens Lehmann ("Arsenal", Germany), Alessandro Nesta ("Milan", Italy), Andrea Pirlo ("Milan", Italy), Franck Ribery ("Marseille", France), Juan Roman Riquelme ("Villarreal", Argentina), Ronaldinho ("Barcelona", Brazil), Wayne Rooney ("Manchester United", England), Tomas Rosicky ("Arsenal", Czech Republic), Andriy Shevchenko ("Chelsea", Ukraine), Lilian Thuram ("Barcelona", France), Patrick Vieira ("Inter", France), Zinedine Zidane (retired, France)
