Rooney up for Ballon d'Or

Manchester United star is only English player nominated

By Graeme Bailey @skygraemebailey.   Last Updated: November 1, 2011 8:21am

Wayne Rooney is the only English player named on the 23-man shortlist for the 2011 Ballon d'Or.

The prestigious award is the most coveted individual honour in world football, and is currently in the possession of Lionel Messi - who is looking to claim it for the third successive season.

Ballon d'Or previous winners:

1956 Stanley Matthews 1957 Alfredo Di Stefano 1958 Raymond Kopa 1959 Alfredo Di Stefano 1960 Luis Suarez 1961 Omar Sivori 1962 Josef Masopust 1963 Lev Yashin 1964 Denis Law 1965 Eusebio 1966 Bobby Charlton 1967 Florian Albert 1968 George Best 1969 Gianni Rivera 1970 Gerd Mueller 1971 Johan Cruyff 1972 Franz Beckenbauer 1973 Johan Cruyff 1974 Johan Cruyff 1975 Oleg Blokhin 1976 Franz Beckenbauer 1977 Allan Simonsen 1978 Kevin Keegan 1979 Kevin Keegan 1980 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 1981 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 1982 Paolo Rossi 1983 Michel Platini 1984 Michel Platini 1985 Michel Platini 1986 Igor Belanov 1987 Ruud Gullit 1988 Marco van Basten 1989 Marco van Basten 1990 Lothar Matthaeus 1991 Jean-Pierre Papin 1992 Marco van Basten 1993 Roberto Baggio 1994 Hristo Stoichkov 1995 George Weah 1996 Matthias Sammer 1997 Ronaldo 1998 Zinedine Zidane 1999 Rivaldo 2000 Luis Figo 2001 Michael Owen 2002 Ronaldo 2003 Pavel Nedved 2004 Andriy Shevchenko 2005 Ronaldinho 2006 Fabio Cannavaro 2007 Kaka 2008 Cristiano Ronaldo 2009 Lionel Messi 2010 Lionel Messi

Rooney is one of four Premier League-based players to make the list along with United team-mate Nani, Liverpool's Luis Suarez andSergio Aguero of Manchester City.

Rooney is looking to be the first Englishman in a decade to take the award, with Michael Owen the last one to take the honour in 2001.

Former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is one of eight players from Barcelona to make the cut, whilst Real Madrid boast five candidates including 2009 winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

The coach of the year is also decided at the same event, and that sees Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Andre Villas-Boas all nominated.

Player nominees:

Eric Abidal (France), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain)

Coach nominees:

Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team), Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United), Rudi Garcia (France/Lille OSC), Pep Guardiola (Spain/Barcelona), Jurgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), Joachim Low (Germany/Germany national team), Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid), Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay/Uruguay national team), Andre Villas-Boas (Portugal/FC Porto, Chelsea), Arsene Wenger (France/Arsenal)

Source : http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7284636/?utm_source=twitterfeed_Football_twitter&utm_medium=twitter