The nominations for this year’s European Footballer of the Year award have been revealed.
Of the 50 nominations, 17 are players from Barclays Premiership clubs, more than any other league.
Zinédine Zidane was included in the list of 50 players nominated on Tuesday, the European player of the year award, even though he retired halfway through the year.
Seven members of the victorious Italy squad, including captain Fabio Cannavaro, were nominated.
There are 10 Frenchmen on the list including Ludic Giuly, who was not even in the French World Cup squad.
Barcelona has eight current players on the list, second to Chelsea with nine. Lyon is third with five nominees.
The nominations were announced in the magazine France Football and the name of the winner, decided by a panel of European journalists, will be unveiled on November 27.
Nominations:
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Tim Cahill (Everton), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Gregory Coupet (Lyon), Cristiano Cris (Lyon), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Mahamadou Diarra (Real Madrid), 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 (Lyon), Kaka (Milan), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayer Munich), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Edison Mendez (PSV Eindhoven), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Franck Ribery (Marseille), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona), Tiago (Lyon), Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), Patrick Vieira (Inter), David Villa (Valencia), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Zinedine Zidane (Retired).
