Geneva, Aug 06: Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Manchester United's Ruud Van Nistelrooy were among the nominees for UEFA's annual awards, for outstanding performances during last season's UEFA club competitions, European soccer's governing body announced.

Zidane and Juventus' Pavel Nedved were each nominated for both the best midfielder and most valuable player awards.
Real Madrid's Roberto Carlos was nominated as MVP as well as best defender, while Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus was named as candidate for MVP and best goalkeeper alongside Real Madrid's Iker Casillas and Francesco Toldo of Inter Milan.
In all, 18 of the world's best players formed the star-studded shortlist of nominees for the 2003 European Football Awards to be presented at a ceremony in Monaco on Aug 28.
Only four leagues were represented in the nominations, from Italy, Spain, England and Netherlands.



Real Madrid players earned eight nominations, Juventus had six. Italian clubs collected a whopping 11 nominations. In contrast, only two players from the premier league were nominated, for three awards.


Bureau Report