Ronaldo among FIFA nominees for World Player of the Year

Dec 12, 2008, 15:21 GMT

Zurich - European Footballer of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo is one of five players shortlisted Friday for the 2008 FIFA World Player awards.

The newly-crowned Ballon d'Or winner will face competition from last year's winner Kaka of AC Milan while Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Xavi and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres have also been nominated for the award, which will be handed out on January 12, 2009 in Zurich.

This is the first year five players, rather than three, have been named on the shortlist.

Nadine Angerer and Birgit Prinz of Germany, Brazilians Cristiane and Marta as well as Kelly Smith of England will contest the women's award.

The nominees were confirmed after a poll in which the coaches and captains of men's and women's national teams from around the world cast their votes on the basis of a list of men's and women's candidates drawn up by FIFA.

Ronaldo was third in last year's list but is the strong favourite to win the award this time around after helping Manchester United to the English Premier League and Champions League, scoring 42 goals in the process.

Xavi and Torres were both key players for Spain on its way to the Euro 2008 title in the summer while Kaka's lack of recent success with Milan means the Brazilian is ranked the outsider of the five.