UEFA Best Player in Europe Award

[Jype 6,398]

The award is given to the best player of 2012 and the winner is chosen by a bunch of journalists, making it essentially the same as Ballon d'Or was before it was merged together with FIFA Player of the Year award. Here's the full list of nominees:

Sergio Agüero (ARG) – Manchester City FC

Xabi Alonso (ESP) – Real Madrid CF

Mario Balotelli (ITA) – Manchester City FC

Jakub Błaszczykowski (POL) –Borussia Dortmund

Gianluigi Buffon (ITA) – Juventus

Iker Casillas (ESP) – Real Madrid CF

Petr Čech (CZE) – Chelsea FC

Fábio Coentrão (POR) – Real Madrid CF

Leslie Davies (WAL) – Bangor City FC

Didier Drogba (CIV) – Chelsea FC (now at Shanghai Shenhua FC)

Cesc Fàbregas (ESP) – FC Barcelona

Falcao (COL) – Atlético Madrid

Joe Hart (ENG) – Manchester City FC

Zlatan Ibrahimović (SWE) – AC Milan

Andrés Iniesta (ESP) – FC Barcelona

Shinji Kagawa (JPN) – Borussia Dortmund (now at Manchester United FC)

Vincent Kompany (BEL) – Manchester City FC

Frank Lampard (ENG) – Chelsea FC

Lionel Messi (ARG) – FC Barcelona

Luka Modrić (CRO) – Tottenham Hotspur FC

Mesut Özil (GER) – Real Madrid CF

Pepe (POR) – Real Madrid CF

Andrea Pirlo (ITA) – Juventus

Sergio Ramos (ESP) – Real Madrid CF

Raúl González (ESP) – FC Schalke 04 (now at Al-Sadd Sports Club)

Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) – Real Madrid CF

Wayne Rooney (ENG) – Manchester United FC

David Silva (ESP) – Manchester City FC

Fernando Torres (ESP) – Chelsea FC

Yaya Touré (CIV) – Manchester City FC

Robin van Persie (NED) – Arsenal FC

Xavi Hernández (ESP) – FC Barcelona

Who do you think will win it? There are three Chelsea players (+ Drogba of course) nominated and I would be thrilled if any of them won this but sadly I don't believe they can compete when everything is about Messi and Ronaldo these days. Personally I would go with Ronaldo because Real Madrid were by far the better team this year but only time will tell and who knows, maybe Messi is even more phenomenal for the first half of 12/13 season and gets the better of Cristiano.

P.s. On a side note, who the fuck is Leslie Davies and what has he done to even be nominated for this prestigious award?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Torres? Who makes this list? It seems it is based on reputation more than actual performance this season.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

And who in the world is Leslie Davies?

[Amblève. 4,995]

No Mata and Ramires but Torres?! Is this a joke?! Really: Are they kidding us?

Idiocy at its best!

[Peace. 4,352]

"Leslie Davies" -> He isn't even on Wikipedia, and on google there's only one photograph of him. Furthermore, he plays in the Wales championship, which is saying a lot (no disrespect)... Yeah, he must be the rebirth of Jésus of Nazareth, he definitely must be him...

Torres -> Did they mix the "best player in Europe" and the "best flop in Europe" lists ?

Lampard and Raul have nothing to do on this list neither.

This is definitely based on the "name". UEFA are really a laughing stock.

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

And who in the world is Leslie Davies?

Have you been living under a rock?

[Jose M 140]

I think Drogba may actually have a chance of winning it. The prize usually goes to a player that was in the most successful team of the past season. In my opinion Didier had a EPIC season and deserves the accolade !

[Beigl 1,387]

No Mata,but Torres?

Raul Gonzalez?

And who is Leslie Davies

[termninja 5,290]

Leslie Davies to win it!

[Invasion 13]

Leslie Davies should have won it last year but got screwed up so I hope this year justice will prevail and dude will get his long-awaiting award.

[Melanicus 5,208]

Leslie Davies... WTF?! Never heard of anything similar.

Which idiot made this list?

[Hutcho 8,443]

Bangor city FC....? If he wins l think the award ceremony would be hilarious with messi sitiing there waiting for his award and they say leslie davies... WTF came to mind.... Is he even in the wales team?

[Sheva. 5,373]

This list only confirms what i already knew already that Journo's = ultimate trolls

[manpe 10,857]

Who makes this list?

Journalists of the 53 UEFA member states. I read that the inclusion of Leslie Davies is a joke by Welsh journos

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Journalists of the 53 UEFA member states. I read that the inclusion of Leslie Davies is a joke by Welsh journos

Who made the Torres joke?

[capriccioso 2,545]

Torres is on the list? HOW?!

It'll be Messi, I suppose.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Think it will probably be Ronaldo but I would love it if Leslie Davies won. This list is ridiculous so might as well have fun with it. I was going to start listing problems with the list (Torres is on it, Raul is on it, Lewandowski is not, etc...) but there are way too many to list.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Petr Cech deserves the award. Seriously. His contribution throughout the whole of our Champions League campaign was phenomenal. Made something like 63 saves. His penalty heroics give him a great chance, too. Add in the fact his saves also won us the FA Cup final and stopped us from being relegated in the league