Ballon d'Or shortlist decided

France Football magazine have announced their shortlist for the Ballon d'Or award. Reigning European champions AC Milan’s Brazilian playmaker Kaka is the favourite to win the award.

The shortlist is as follows:

Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Daniel Alves (Sevilla), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Petr Cech (Chelsea), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paolo), Brasil; Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Mahamadou Diarra (Real Madrid), Diego (Werder Bremen), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Kaka (Milan), Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Younis Mahmoud (Algharafa), Paolo Maldini (Milan), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Guillermo Ochoa (America Mexico), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Ricardo Quaresma (Porto), Raul (Real Madrid), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Paul Scholes (Manchester United), Clarence Seedorf (Milan), Carlos Tevez (Manchester United), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Kolo Toure (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Francesco Totti (Roma), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), David Villa (Valencia).