Four Barcelona players in FIFA top ten

Cristiano Ronaldo has been chosen as FIFA World Player of 2008. Barcelona player Lionel Messi finished second, while Xavi (5th), Eto'o (7th) and Iniesta (9th) are also among the ten highest ranked players in the world.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo 935
2. Lionel Messi 678
3. Fernando Torres 203
4. Kaká 183
5. Xavi 155
6. Steven Gerrard 68
7. Samuel Eto'o 58
8. Iker Casillas 49
9. Andrés Iniesta 37
10. David Villa 37


Ronaldo was chosen after a poll in which the coaches and captains of national teams from around the world have cast their votes on the basis of a list of candidates drawn up by FIFA (read more here).

Lionel Messi also finished second last year, behind Kaká. Previous Barcelona winners include Romário (1994), Ronaldo (1996 and 1997), Rivaldo (1999) and Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005).




Check the full results here
Check all the votes here

Messi and Xavi on FIFA worldplayer shortlist

The remaining contenders for the 2008 FIFA World Player award, which will be handed out at the Zurich Opera House on 12 January 2009, were announced today.

In alphabetical order, the nominees are:

Kaká (AC Milan - Brazil)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona - Argentina)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United - Portugal)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool - Spain)
Xavi (Barcelona - Spain)


The above-mentioned nominees were confirmed after a poll in which the coaches and captains of national teams from around the world cast their votes on the basis of a list of candidates drawn up by FIFA (read more here).

Lionel Messi finished second last year, behind Kaká. Previous Barcelona winners include Romário (1994), Ronaldo (1996 and 1997), Rivaldo (1999) and Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005).

Four Barcelona candidates for FIFA World player

FIFA has yesterday announced the names of the nominees for the title of FIFA World Player 2008.

Four Barcelona players are included in the list:

Samuel Eto'o, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xavi.

The list of 23 candidates has been drawn up by football experts from the Football Committee. The final decision will now be made by the captains and head coaches of the national teams.

At the beginning of December, FIFA will announce the names of the three players who have received the most votes and the winner will be revealed at the 18th FIFA World Player Gala at the Zurich Opera House on 12 January 2009.




The 2008 shortlist:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo)
Sergio Agüero (Argentina)
Andrei Arshavin (Russia)
Michael Ballack (Germany)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
Iker Casillas (Spain)
Deco (Portugal)
Didier Drogba (Côte d'Ivoire)
Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon)
Cesc Fabregas (Spain)
Steven Gerrard (England)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
Kaká (Brazil)
Frank Lampard (England)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Franck Ribéry (France)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
John Terry (England)
Fernando Torres (Spain)
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands)
David Villa (Spain)
Xavi (Spain)