By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

South Africa, Friday, July 9, 2010 — The nominees for the FIFA Golden Ball award, given to the World Cup’s best player, were revealed at a press conference today featuring FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke and adidas Group CEO Herbert Hainer. They were selected by FIFA’s Technical Study Group which consists of various global football experts.

Five of the nominees are from the two finalists, Holland and Spain. No defenders have been nominated. Despite a disappointing tournament, Argentina’s Lionel Messi is included. Germany’s 20-year-old star Thomas Müller was surprisingly left out of the list.

Tournament co-top scorers Wesley Sneijder and David Villa are the front runners for the award and a goalscoring performance in the final should win it for one of them.

FIFA Golden Ball 2010 Award nominees
Arjen Robben (Holland)
Wesley Sneijder (Holland)
Andres Iniesta (Spain)
Xavi Hernandez (Spain)
David Villa (Spain)
Mesut Ozil (Germany)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Gyan Asamoah (Ghana)

Previous Winners
1970 – Pele (Brazil)
1974 – Johan Cruyff (Holland)
1978 – Mario Kempes (Argentina)
1982 – Paolo Rossi (Italy)
1986 – Diego Maradona (Argentina)
1990 – Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)
1994 – Romario (Brazil)
1998 – Ronaldo (Brazil)
2002 – Oliver Kahn (Germany)
2006 – Zinedine Zidane (France)
2010 – ?

Source: FIFA.com