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On Monday, it was announced that 50 candidates are competing for the award for the best football player in Europe in 2006 - the "Golden Ball" awarded by the magazine "France Football". Established in 1956, the prize, which since 1995 can also be awarded to non-Europeans, has nine players from the London club "Chelsea" competing to win it. Last year's laureate, Brazilian Ronaldinho, is one of eight players from "Barcelona", while the "Arsenal" team, which Barcelona defeated in last season's Champions League final, has four representatives.
The victory of Italy in the World Cup allowed seven players from that team to be included in the list of candidates, while Zinedine Zidane, former defender of the French national team who ended his football career receiving a red card, is a candidate to win the award for the second time.
The only other candidate who has already been a laureate is Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko, who won the prize in 2004. The award for the best player is decided by journalists from all countries of the Old Continent - three from each. The winner of the 51st edition of the awards will be announced on December 18th.
Candidates to win the 2006 "Golden Ball": Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Tim Cahill (Everton), Fabio Cannavaro (Real), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Grégory Coupet (Lyon), Cris (Lyon), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Mahamadou Diarra (Real), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), William Gallas (Arsenal), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ludovic Giuly (Barcelona), Fabio Grosso (Inter), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Juninho Pernambucano (Lyon), Kaká (Milan), Miroslav Klose (Werder), Philipp Lahm (Bayern), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Edison Mendez (PSV), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Lukas Podolski (Bayern), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Franck Ribéry (Marseille), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Willy Sagnol (Bayern), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern), Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona), Tiago (Lyon), Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Fernando Torres (Atletico), Patrick Vieira (Inter), David Villa (Valencia), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Zinédine Zidane (retired).
