Madrid seven head list

Seven players from reigning European champions Real Madrid CF are included on the 50-strong short list for France Football magazine's European Footballer of the Year award.

Champions League winner
Zinedine Zidane, scorer of Madrid's winning goal in the UEFA Champions League final against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, is joined by team-mates Roberto Carlos, Raúl González, Luis Figo, Iker Casillas, Claude Makele and Ronaldo in the running for the 47th Ballon d'Or which will be announced next month.

World Cup goals
While Roberto Carlos shone for club and country, team-mate Ronaldo's presence is owed to his performance at the FIFA World Cup where he scored eight goals, including two in the final, as Brazil were crowned world champions. Ronaldo's rival in that final, FC Bayern München and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, also makes the list.

Tomasson's key role
Rivaldo, meanwhile, heads the list of four AC Milan players nominated. Filippo Inzaghi is there having scored eight goals already in this season's Champions League, along with Paolo Maldini and Jon Dahl Tomasson - a key figure both for Feyenoord in their UEFA Cup triumph last May and for Denmark in the World Cup.

United stars
The other club with four nominees is Manchester United FC, whose Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooij was last season's Champions League leading scorer. David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs are also included.

Ballack included
Leverkusen's march to the Champions League final last season is rewarded by the presence of Yildiray Bastürk, Lucio and Bernd Schneider - all of whom also had good World Cups for Turkey, Brazil and Germany respectively. Another German World Cup star, Bayern's Michael Ballack is also there, having also played a telling part in Leverkusen's success last season.

Owen's verdict
Other expected names on the list are last year's winner Michael Owen, plus Arsenal FC and France striker Thierry Henry. When asked his verdict, Owen said: "Roberto Carlos won the Champions League as well as the World Cup while Zidane remains one of the best players in the world even if France did not perform well at the World Cup. I also like Thierry Henry very much and I think I would put him in my list of favourites."

The full list
Pablo Aimar, Sonny Anderson, Michael Ballack, Rubén Baraja, Yildiray Bastürk, David Beckham, Cafu, Djibril Cissé, Alessandro Del Piero, Papa Bouba Diop, El Hadji Diouf, Edmilson, Rio Ferdinand, Luis Figo, Ryan Giggs, Hasan Sas, Thierry Henry, Iker Casillas, Junichi Inamoto, Filippo Inzaghi, Oliver Kahn, Miroslav Klose, Patrick Kluivert, Lucio, Luis Enrique, Roy Makaay, Claude Makelele, Paolo Maldini, Michael Owen, Pauleta, Raúl González, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Tomáš Rosický, Saviola, Bernd Schneider, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Francesco Totti, David Trezeguet, Juan Carlos Valerón, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Ruud van Nistelrooij, Patrick Vieira, Christian Vieri, Marc Wilmots, Sylvain Wiltord, Zinedine Zidane.