Three Asian football players that were nominated in Ballon D'or

News24xx.com - Ballon D’Or or the Golden Cup is an annual award that is given to football players with great achievements and skills on the field. Ballon D’Or has been awarded since 1956 and initiated by French Football federation.

There are many famous and legendary football players that have won this award. For example, Bobby Charlton, Zinadine Zidane, Ruud Gullit, George Best, and Franz Beckenbauer.

However, there are also three football players from Asia that were nominated in this prestigious award. Although they did not win, being nominated was already a great for them, because only the best players could be nominated. Those three are:

1.       Hidetoshi Nakata

In 2001, Hidetoshi Nakata, a football player from Japan was nominated in Ballon D’Or. In his career, he played for many European team such as Perugia, AS Roma, Parma, Bologna, Fiorentina and even Bolton Wanderers. So it was not surprising when he was included in Ballon D’Or 2001.

2.       Park Ji-sung

Another Asian football player that was nominated in Ballon D’Or came from South Korea, Park Ji-sung. He was nominated in Ballon D’Or 2005, though he did not get any vote. As cited from hai-online.com, now he becomes the ambassador of Manchester United. He had played for some of European clubs, like PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United and Queens Park Rangers.

3.       Shunsuke Nakamura

Another one from Japan is Shunsuke Nakamura. He was nominated in Ballon D’Or in 2007. He has played for various teams, like Reggina, Celtic, Espanyol, and now, the 39-year-old football player still playing for Jubilo Iwata.

 

 

 

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