> Finalists for FIFA World Player of the Year Announced

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Finalists for the FIFA World Player of the Year Award

1.Ronaldinho

2. Zinedine Zidane

3. Fabio Cannavaro

The winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards will be revealed on Monday, December 18, when the FIFA World Player Gala 2006 is held at Zurichs world- famous opera house.

Interstingly though FIFA snubbed France's Thierry Henry.
He was the only player to compete in both the Champions League and World Cup finals. He was a major factor for Les Bleus in Germany, scoring three times. He also led England's Premiership in scoring for the third straight time.

Bonafides of Each Player ShortListed
Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho,who already earned the 2005-06 FIFPro Player of the Year, has a very good chance of winning the award for the third straight year. The Brazilian put together a great season for Barcelona last year, helping the team to the La Liga title as well as the UEFA Champions League crown. The only thing working against him is his performance in the World Cup in Germany, which was average for Brazilian standards.Ronaldinho seems to have rebounded from the World Cup, however, and is the leading scorer in La Liga this season with 10 goals in 12 games for Barca.

Zinedine Zidane

Zidane, who retired after the World Cup in Germany this past summer, was one of the few bright spots for his club team, Real Madrid, this past year while also guiding France to the World Cup Final. His performance in the World Cup was highlighted by his play in the knockout rounds against Brazil and Spain. Should Zidane win the award next month, he will become the first ever player to pocket the honor four times.

Fabio Cannavaro

Cannavaro's spot as a finalist is a first for him, even though he just won the European Player of the Year award and is Favourite to Win this one too. He has never made the final shortlist before and should he claim the award, he would be the first defender to do so and only the second Italian player after Roberto Baggio in 1993.Cannavaro's nomination is based mostly on his performance in the World Cup where he led Italy to the title as the team's captain. The former Juventus man was the strength of the Italian defense that only gave up two goals in the entire tournament, including an own goal against the U.S. in the group stage and a penalty kick against France in the final.

Then there is snubbed France's Thierry Henry

He was the only player to compete in both the Champions League and World Cup finals. He was a major factor for Les Bleus in Germany, scoring three times. He also led England's Premiership in scoring for the third straight time.

The omission of Henry calls into serious question the method used to pick FIFA's top player.Currently, the managers and captains of FIFA's 207 member nations make three selections each.

Taking place for the 16th time, the awards gala will also see the presentation of a number of other awards.
*FIFA Presidential Award
*FIFA Fair Play Prize
*The outstanding performers of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany will also be honored. The tournaments three best players (Zinedine Zidane, Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo) and three top scorers (Miroslav Klose, Hernan Crespo and Ronaldo) will be presented with awards in Zurich, as will the outstanding goalkeeper (Gianluigi Buffon) and the two fairest teams (Brazil and Spain).

The FIFA Women's World Player awards will also be announced with the USAs Kristine Lilly, Germanys Renate Lingor and Brazil international Marta the three finalists for the women's top award.

The women will definitely see a new winner of the award this season as last year's winner, Birgit Prinz, who won the award the past three years, failed to make it as a finalist this season.