Ballon d’Or: No African female player on FIFA’s shortlist

FIFA and France Football have Thursday announced the names of the players and coaches on the shortlists for these awards without a single African on the list.. The final decisions will be made, as usual, by the captains and head coaches of the women’s national teams as well as by international media representatives selected by France Football.
The shortlists for the FIFA Ballon d’Or (best male player) and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football awards will be revealed on October 29, 2012.
The winners of all of the awards will be revealed at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 7, 2013, during which the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the FIFA Puskás Award – for the most beautiful goal of the year – the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented.
The list of ten female candidates has been drawn up by experts from the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as by experts from France Football. The list of ten coaches has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee, the Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup as well as by a group of experts from France Football.
On November 29, 2012, FIFA and France Football will announce at a press conference in São Paulo (Brazil) the names of the three men and three women, as well as the three coaches for women’s football and three coaches for men’s football, who have received the most votes (without unveiling the winners). The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award and the FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist for the best forwards will also be announced (the shortlists for best goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders will be unveiled on 19, 22 and 26 November, respectively).
The 10 women who are in contention for the title of FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year 2012 include Camille Abily (France), Miho Fukumoto (Japan), Carli Lloyd (USA), Marta (Brazil), Aya Miyama (Japan), Alex Morgan (USA), Megan Rapinoe (USA), Homare Sawa (Japan), Christine Sinclair (Canada), Abby Wambach (USA).
The 10 coaches who are in contention for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football 2012 include Bruno Bini (France/France national team), John Herdman (England/Canada national team), Patrice Lair (France/Olympique Lyonnais), Maren Meinert (Germany/Germany U-20 national team), Silvia Neid (Germany/Germany national team), Hope Powell (England/England national team), Norio Sasaki (Japan/Japan national team), Pia Sundhage (Sweden/USA national team), Steve Swanson (USA/USA U-20 national team), Hiroshi Yoshida (Japan/Japan U-20/U-17 national teams)