World and European champions Spain dominated the shortlist for the Player of the Year award announced on Tuesday with seven players among the 23 nominees.Argentinas Lionel Messi will attempt to win the award for the third year in a row, having surprisingly beaten his Barcelona teammates Xavi and Andres Iniesta last year.The trio were among eight Barcelona players to make the shortlist for this year while Barcas arch-rivals Real Madrid have five.Messi and seven of his teammates at European and Spanish champion Barcelona are on the Ballon dOr shortlist.England striker Wayne Rooney made the list after helping Manchester United to a 19th league title and a spot in the Champions League final.No England player was nominated last year and no Italian player features on the 23-man list for the second straight year.Cameroons Samuel Etoo was the only African player to be included.Barcelonas Pep Guardiola will be favoured to win the world coach of the year award after leading his team to a trophy laden year, adding the European Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup in August.Long-serving Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque and Madrid coach Jose Mourinho are also on the 10-candidate list. Mourinho won the 2010 award after leading Inter Milan to the Italian and European titles.The leading three candidates from each list will be announced on December 5 in Paris, with the winners announced at a televised ceremony in Zurich on January 9.Player of the year candidates: Eric Abidal (France), Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Etoo (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Oezil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).
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