Two Ghanaians among the best footballers in the world: Michael Essien and Adjoa Bayor made it to FIFA's list of 30 nominees each for the best male and female footballers of the year. None of them is likely to win the award but the mere fact that they have been nominated by Fifa's technical committee is itself a great achievement. The Swedish press is shocked at the failure of Swedish born Inter forward, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to make the list. Swedish sports journalists have for long touted him as currently the best player in the world. The rest of the world sees it differently.

Nominees for FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2007

Men's nominees (alphabetical order):

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Petr Cech (Czech Republic), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Deco (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Ghana), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Steven Gerrard (England), Thierry Henry (France), Juninho (Brazil), Kaka (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Frank Lampard (England), Rafael Marquez (Mexico), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Alessandro Nesta (Italy), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribery (France), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina), Ronaldinho (Brazil), Wayne Rooney (England), John Terry (England), Carlos Tevez (Argentina), Lilian Thuram (France), Fernando Torres (Spain), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), Patrick Vieira (France)

Women's Nominees (alphabetical order):
Nadine Angerer (Germany), Adjoa Bayor (Ghana), Cristiane (Brazil), Daniela (Brazil), Lisa de Vanna (Australia), Formiga (Brazil), Christie George (Nigeria), Ragnhild Gulbrandsen (Norway), Duan Han (China), Ariane Hingst (Germany), Jie Li (China), Kristine Lilly (USA), Renate Lingor (Germany), Marta (Brazil), Perpetua Nkwocha (Nigeria), Bente Nordby (Norway), Cathrine Paaske Sorensen (Denmark), Birgit Prinz (Germany), Un Suk Ri (North Korea), Christine Sinclair (Canada), Kelly Smith (England), Rebecca Smith (New Zealand), Ane Stangeland Horpestad (Norway), Kerstin Stegemann (Germany), Ingvild Stensland (Norway), Abby Wambach (USA)