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Everybody knows that England had a brutal year when it comes to football. Their performance at the World Cup in South Africa in the summer was its worst ever and nobody really stood out on the world stage. FIFA definitely noticed this and for the first time in quite a while there wasn’t an Englishman to be seen when FIFA released its 23-man list for this year’s Ballon d’Or award, which is basically given to the player of the year.

Spain, which has been dominating European and world football over the past couple of years, is well represented with seven players being named on the list. The Spanish won the European Championship back in 2008 and beat Holland 1-0 to win this year’s World Cup.

Not only did England get shut out in the voting, the English Premier League, which is supposedly the best in the world, also fared pretty poorly as only three players from the league were named on the list. These were Ghana international striker Asamoah Gyan, who just recently joined Sunderland, along with Ivory Coast international striker Didier Drogba of Chelsea, and Spanish international midfielder Cesc Fabregas. Considering all of the supposed talent in the league, that’s pretty embarrassing.

The Ballon d’Or award is basically a combination of the award given out by the French football magazine called Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s player of the year award. Argentinean international Lionel Messi, who plays for Barcelona, is the current holder of both awards. He will probably be a favourite again this year along with the likes of Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid. However, Ronaldo didn’t really live up to expectations this year.

If any Englishman deserved to be on the list it would have been international striker Wayne Rooney of Manchester United. In fact, he probably should have been included when you consider that he was the second-leading scorer in the EPL last season with 26 goals and scored 34 in total for the season.

The English didn’t fare any better when it came to the coach of the year award either as they were also shut out on that list. However, the EPL was a little better represented as Alex Ferguson of Manchester United, Arsene Wenger of Arsenal, and Carlo Ancelotti of Chelsea were nominated. But this should be a hands-down win for Portuguese manage Jose Mourinho as he cleaned up on trophies with Inter Milan last season.

The list for World Player of the Year is:
Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

The list for World Coach of the Year is:
Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (Barcelona), Joachim Low (Germany), Jose Mourinho (Inter Milan/Real Madrid), Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay), Louis Van Gaal (Bayern Munich), Bert van Marwijk (Holland) and Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).