Wayne Rooney is the only British player to make the Ballon d'Or World Footballer of the Year shortlist. In addition to Rooney, there are three other Premier League stars nominated: Nani (Man Utd), Luis Suarez (Liverpool) and Sergio Aguero (Man City).

It is no surprise that Barcelona lead all teams with eight players on the list, including Lionel Messi, who has won the award for the past two seasons.

02.11.2011 - La Comisión del Fútbol, la Comisión Técnica y de Desarrollo y un grupo de expertos de (la revista) France Football, elaboraron las listas de candidatos preseleccionados que comprenden 23 jugadores y 10 entrenadores.
El 5 de diciembre (2011), la FIFA y France Football anunciarán (en París) las ternas definitivas para la 56º entrega del Balón de Oro.

Messi is the main contender and one of eight players from the Spanish league in contention for the FIFA Ballon d'Or award to be announced on January 9, 2012.
Éric Abidal (France), Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc F bregas (Spain), Diego Forlán (Uruguay), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).

They've got the World Cup, the European Championship, lots of little youth tournament trinkets and it currently is home to Ol' Big Ears, the Champions League trophy, so logic would dictate the Ballon d'Or shortlist to have a great Spanish influence. It does, but far more than possibly expected: 15 of the 23 played at least part of the year in La Liga.

Just four players from the Premier League have been included in the short list for this year's Ballon d'Or, two of them from Manchester United, Nani and Rooney.

Interestingly enough, Rooney is the only Englishman mentioned.

Eric Abidal (France), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).

For the next couple of weeks the sporting world will be held in suspense as world football governing body FIFA prepares to announce the best male and female player in 2011.

From the look of things, we should expect a new winner in both categories as the level of competition has been extremely high through out the year.

Feliz Martes! The FIFA Ballon d'Or preliminary list of 23 men has been finalised and although the final 3 names will be announced on December 5th, you have an entire month to gloss over this. There haven't been many surprises and we've highlighted whom we think will probably and predictably make the cut based on the votes and if it doesn't work out, they can still make this into a Ballon d'Or reality TV show!

By JOEY SAMUEL

During the qualifying process for the 2010 World Cup, France put on a number of disappointing performances and was forced to get in through the playoff round. On Tuesday, Les Bleus made sure that wouldn't happen again.

A Samir Nasri penalty in the 78th minute rescued a 1-1 draw for France against Bosnia-Herzegovina, allowing France to remain in first place in Group D and seal a place in EURO 2012.

By Chris Wright

For the record, we're not talking 'blessed with a gift from the gods' special here, we're talking 'eating the crayons again' special...

Adam Johnson, England: Thumbs up if you're enjoying yourself...

Dieter Hecking, Nuremburg: Looks like the kind of chap that doesn't have to pay on local buses.

UEFA.com have taken the time and good grace to bestow upon us their Team of the Year 2010, and it should come as scant surprise that both Barcelona and Inter Milan dominate proceedings with 8 of the final 11 slots being occupied by their employees, along with a further 7 of the 44 'unsuccessful' nominees.