Wayne Rooney is the sole English player shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or while his Manchester United colleague Robin van Persie is also nominated along with the usual suspects of Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Didier Drogba. Men's shortlists for the FIFA Ballon d'Or gala 2012:
Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Mario Balotelli (Italy), Karim Benzema (France), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Sergio Busquets (Spain), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Côte d'Ivoire), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Zlatan Ibrahimovi? (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Yaya Touré (Côte d'Ivoire), Robin van Persie (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain).
The following ten coaches are in contention for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for 2012:
Vicente del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team), Roberto Di Matteo (Italy/Chelsea FC), Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC), Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Barcelona former coach), Jupp Heynckes (Germany/FC Bayern München), Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), Joachim Löw (Germany/Germany national team), Roberto Mancini (Italy/Manchester City FC), José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid CF), Cesare Prandelli (Italy/Italy national team).
