France Football announced on Sunday the nominations for its prestigious Ballon D'or (Golden Ball) award.  Three English Premier League representatives were chosen as candidates for the prize better known as European Footballer of the Year - Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard will all be hopeful of picking up the award. 

The only Serie A representative in the list of nominees is Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o. 

Spain's Primera Liga provides six out of the ten candidates.  Four play for European champions Barcelona - Andres Iniesta, Zavi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi.  Two star as 'Galacticos' at Real Madrid - Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The Spanish name most notable by his absence though is Liverpool's start striker Fernando Torres .  El Nino has surprisingly been ignored, despite enjoying another excellent year for the Reds.