FIFA Ballon D'Or

FIFA and France Football have announced the nominees for this year's prestigious FIFA's World Player of the Year Awards. Players from Spain have dominated the list and rightly so. My dissection of nominees on a slightly different angle from which I can probably conclude who could be the winner on Jan 10 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland.

League-wise:
La Liga =11
Bundesliga = 5
Serie A = 4
Premier League = 3

Club-wise:
Barcelona = 6
Bayern Munich = 5
Real Madrid = 4
Inter Milan = 4
Atletico Madrid = 1
Arsenal = 1
Chelsea = 1
Sunderland = 1

Position-wise:
Goalkeepers = 2
Defenders = 4
Central Midfielders = 6
Attacking Midfielders = 5
Strikers = 6

Historically speaking:
Barcelona = 7 winners (Romario, Ronaldo X 2*, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho X 2, Messi)
Real Madrid = 4 winners (Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane, Cannavaro)
Juventus = 4 winners (Baggio, Zidane X 2*, Cannavaro)
AC Milan = 3 winners (van Basten, Weah, Kaka)
Inter Milan = 3 winners (Matthaus, Ronaldo X 2*)

WC 1994 Finals = Romario scored in shoot out
WC 1998 Finals = Zidane scored
WC 2002 Finals = Ronaldo scored
WC 2006 Finals = Cannavaro

(Note: * denotes played for 2 clubs in the same year)

Based on above statistics, it is safe to say that neither England nor Premier League players have left their mark on awards night. Only once on top and mostly finished in second or even in third place. The above stats also conclude that a central midfielder playing for Barcelona in La Liga who has also scored the goal in the Finals of the World Cup stands the best chance of winning the award. Andres Iniesta.

This year also sees the introduction of FIFA Manager of the Year award. The choices again are not surprising, because they all have either won some trophy for the club/country for the year or have been longest serving managers for their historic clubs. The obvious and popular choice would be to give this award to someone who has helped the country win the world cup or club achieve a treble in all competitions. Vicente Del Bosque and Jose Mourinho have achieved the feat with their respective teams; One had the players who knew their roles and performed as champions they were known to become and the Special One possesses special management skills and he knows exactly how he wants his team to play and makes them victorious champions no matter what. But one manager who stands out for me is he who believed in youth system, he who symbolized attacking football the way his Nazi ancestors used Blitzkreig on the armed forces, he who keeps a 'Loew' profile. Joachim Loew.

Well those are my votes for awards, who do you think is the most deserving player to win it this year?