It was quite surprising for most Arsenal fans when they saw the Ballon d’Or shortlist and found out that Robin van Persie was missing.
The Rotterdam-born striker has racked up a stunning 33 goals in 37 games in 2011, and added to that, was part of the team which made it to the World Cup finals in South Africa last summer.
Before we go on to discuss why van Persie didn’t make the list this year, let’s take a look at who did (some of the names mentioned may make you laugh):
Eric Abidal (France)
Sergio Agüero (Argentina)
Karim Benzema (France)
Iker Casillas (Spain)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Dani Alves (Brazil)
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
Cesc Fàbregas (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)
Let us not discuss all the names, but we will talk about the dubious ones on the list above.
Eric Abidal missed a couple of months last season due to a tumour in his liver, and although it was sad to hear, I don’t get why he has been nominated for this award.
Sergio Aguero scored 27 goals last season for Atletico Madrid. The Argentine didn’t win the domestic league or a cup, neither did his national team win the continental competition.
Most notably, Cesc Fabregas struggled last year in England and missed a chunk of last season. Thomas Muller finished the season empty handed at Bayern, and the most dubious of the lot is Neymar. He has been playing in Brazil!, plus, he didn’t impress at the Copa America either.
Van Persie is the 3rd highest scorer in Europe currently, behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. It is unacceptable that the Dutchman has missed out.
This isn’t the case now. Dennis Bergkamp during his peak (1996-1999) didn’t manage to win it either. Let alone winning it, Bergkamp didn’t even finish in the top 3. Thierry Henry was the worlds best between 2002-2006 and somehow he managed to miss out as well. Thierry lost out to Pavel Nedved in 2002 and to Fabio Cannavaro in 2006. The most laughable is the 2006 award, which was given to Cannavaro, despite him being involved in the Calciopoli (Maggiopoli) scandal in that year.
The absence of Van Persie makes it more unconvincing and almost impossible for any Arsenal player to win it. If Van Persie doesn’t get nominated in the next 2 years, it is almost close to impossible to see any other Arsenal player being nominated for the prestigious award.
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I Think he wasnt nominated because these awards are based on the previous year of which Robin missed half the season. He should get nominated next year if he stays fit and keeps firing on all cylinders this year as he has been to this point.
I do have to agree about some of the other jokers nominated. I think the names are just there to take up space as there are probably only 4 or 5 players really challenging for the award.
why the fuck is nani in that shortlist
If its based on previous year’s form then certainly Rooney shouldn’t be on that list! He’d a very poor world cup and if I remember well he didn’t score either for utd for a good 10 or 15 games after the world cup.
Nani too, what has he ever done? Half of the names on that list must have been selected by someone high on something. I agree Thierry losing out to canavaro sounded like a fix of some sort. Anyway, apart from messi and zidane, this award has become more of a farce lately. I mean, even Michael Owen has won it for goodness’s sake. Complete joke. Just confirms the guys who run football are out of touch with reality.
Messi will win….i am sure
But silva hasnt made even the shortlist
Ridiculous!!!!
he is among the top 10 players at the momentand has played so brilliantly last season and this season too
Fifa has a biased eye