Messi, Ronaldo lead Ballon d'Or short list

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By Will Wood, Special to SI.com, Goal.com

The short list for the 2008 Ballon d'Or award has been announced, and there's a few surprise ommissions as the list is reduced in size.

Most notable perhaps are the absences of AC Milan's Ronaldinho and Barcelona forward Thierry Henry, with the duo both judged on their relatively disappointing season at Camp Nou and internationally.

Ronaldinho endured a torrid season in Barcelona last term, suffering from injury and a loss form, and thus the Brazil international will not have the opportunity to add to the award he won in 2005.

"It's normal, I did not play much in the last season," Ronaldinho told French TV channel TF1.

Similarly, Henry had a difficult first season in Spain following his move from Arsenal, and France was also eliminated from Euro 2008 in the first round, and so he misses out on the shortlist for the first time since 1999.

They are not the only big-name omissions, with '06 and '04 winners Andriy Shevchenko and Fabio Cannavaro both missing, and clearly the list's reduced size of 30 from 50 players is taking effect.

Unsurprisingly, European Championship winner Spain boasts seven players on the list, including Liverpool sensation Fernando Torres and Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas, while Brazil has just one player, Kaka, of its own.

Champions League and Premier League champions Manchester United has three players in the running, with hot favorite Cristiano Ronaldo, England hero Wayne Rooney and defender Nemanja Vidic part of the selected pool.

Meanwhile, fellow Champions League finalist Chelsea has three players of its own among the 30, with Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba joining Liverpool's Steven Gerrard as the English contingency.

The winner will be selected on Dec. 2 when 96 journalists from around the world cast their vote in a poll organized by France Football magazine.

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo
Sergio Agüero (Atletico Madrid), Argentina
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Russia
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Italy
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast
Samuel Eto'o (FC Barcelona), Cameroon
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain
Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC), Spain
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), England
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden
Kaka (AC Milan), Brazil
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Argentina
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), France
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England
Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands
Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg SV/Real Madrid), Netherlands
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia
David Villa (Valencia CF), Spain
Xavi (FC Barcelona), Spain
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Russia