Paul Rogers 25 October 2005 Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard could become only the fifth English player ever to be named European Footballer of the Year after he was nominated for the prestigious Ballon D'Or award. The boyhood Reds fan who turned his back on a move to Chelsea and went on to inspire Liverpool to Champions League glory in May has been shortlisted for the award alongside fellow Reds Luis Garcia and Jamie Carragher.
The list of the fifty nominees for the prestigious Ballon D'Or award has now been released by 'France Football' - the magazine that has organized the coveted prize for over 50 years - and already Gerrard is being tipped to challenge Barcelona's Ronaldinho and AC Milan's Kaka for the title.
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If Gerrard does win the award, he will become the first English player to lift the trophy since former team-mate Michael Owen was honoured in 2001. The only other English players to be named European Footballer of Year are Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979).
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The full list of nominees is as follows:
Adriano (Internazionale) Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich) David Beckham (Real Madrid) Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus) Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus) Jamie Carragher (Liverpool) Petr Cech (Chelsea) Gregory Coupet (Lyon) Cris (Lyon) Deco (Barcelona) Dida (Milan) Didier Drogba (Chelsea) Emerson (Juventus) Michael Essien (Chelsea) Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) Luis Figo (Internazionale) Diego Forlan (Villarreal) Luis Garcia (Liverpool) Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) Thierry Henry (Arsenal) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus) Juninho (Lyon) Kaka (Milan) Frank Lampard (Chelsea) Roy Makaay (Bayern Munich) Claude Makelele (Chelsea) Paolo Maldini (Milan) Pavel Nedved (Juventus) Michael Owen (Newcastle) Park Ji-sung (Manchester United) Andrea Pirlo (Milan) Raul (Real Madrid) Juan Roman Riquelme(Villarreal) Arjen Robben (Chelsea) Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid) Robinho (Real Madrid) Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) Andrei Shevchenko (Milan) John Terry (Chelsea) Lilian Thuram (Juventus) David Trezeguet (Juventus) Marc van Bommel (Barcelona) Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) Patrick Vieira (Juventus) Xavi (Barcelona) Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)
Jay -- LIVERPOOL FC - KINGS OF EUROPE MANCHE$TER BUCCANEERS & BLUEpooE - KINGS OF COMEDY
