Golden Ball
The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee and the winner voted for by representatives of the media. Those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the adidas Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively.
Here’s a list of past winners:
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| World Cup | Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 Spain |  Paolo Rossi |  Falcão |  Karl-Heinz Rummenigge |
| 1986 Mexico |  Diego Maradona | Harald Schumacher |  Preben Elkjær |
| 1990 Italy | Salvatore Schillaci | Lothar Matthäus | Diego Maradona |
| 1994 USA |  Romário | Roberto Baggio |  Hristo Stoichkov |
| 1998 France | Ronaldo |  Davor Šuker |  Lilian Thuram |
| 2002 Korea/Japan | Oliver Kahn | Ronaldo |  Hong Myung-Bo |
| 2006 Germany | Zinedine Zidane | Fabio Cannavaro | Andrea Pirlo |
With just two matches left in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke and adidas Group CEO Herbert Hainer today officially announced the 10 nominees for the 2010 FIFA World Cup adidas Golden Ball. The ten nominated players were selected by the FIFA Technical Study Group and includes football experts such as Kalusha Bwalya, Christian Karembeu, Jomo Sono and Gérard Houllier. Among the nominees Villa and Sneijder who are also leading the Golden boot race are being tipped to lift the coveted trophy ,and join the elite club containing greats such as Zidane, Ronaldo and Maradona.
Here is a full list of the nominees:
Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
Goals: 4 Assists: 1
The chief engineer of Uruguayan team, the former Manchester United striker put up a sublime show to earn his place in this list.
Asamoah Gyan (Ghana)
Goals:3 Assists:o
Gyan carried the whole of Africa’s hope and got them through to the quarterfinals after a great strike against USA in extra time, not really expected to pick the award among other nominees.
Andres Iniesta (Spain)
Goals:1 Assists:0
His dribbling abilities were the driving force behind the success of the Spanish team gunning for their first title.
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Goals:0 Assists:1
Many might argue with this choice due to lack of goals but he did supply great passes to his teammates. Not at his best but still a contender.
Mesut Oezil (Germany)
Goals:1 Assists:3
The shining star of the tournament with a wonderful goal and brilliant counter attacking moves which supplied the ammunition for Klose and Podolski.
Arjen Robben (Netherlands)
Goals:2 Assists:1
Not available in earlier stages of the tournament the Bayern Munich star justified his status with brilliant individual goal against Slovakia and an outstanding second half performance against the Brazilians.
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
Goals:0 Assists:3
Turned playmaker for the young Germans in the absence of Ballack, put up a great show overall.
Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
Goals: 5 Assists:1
A tournament to remember for Sneijder with excellent work rate and most importantly 5 goals which thrusted the Dutch in the finals.
David Villa (Spain)
Goals:5 Assists:1He was quick, sublime and an excellent finisher for Spain and most consider him to be the front runner for this award.
Xavi (Spain)
Goals:0 Assists:1
His stats might not show it but he was influential behind the passing of La Furiya Roja, one of the finest midfielder this tournament.
