FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Award Finalists Announced

Today, the Finalists for the WPOTY were announced, and I'm going to be dead honest and say I wasn't too happy with them. Here are the Finalists:

Marta
Birgit Prinz
Fatmire Bajramaj

It seems like a lot of you enjoyed my post on the original 10 nominees, and I know that one was strongly opinionated, so I can guarantee you this post is going to be just as opinionated.

Let me just start off by saying that when I saw the list, I was shocked. The first name I saw was Marta. Was that really a surprise? Of course not, everybody and their mother knows that Marta was going to make the finalists, I mean, this IS Marta we're talking about. Hell, she'll probably win the whole damn thing, AGAIN. As much as I don't think she should win it again, she deserved to be on the list. She did well for her team in the CONMEBOL Sudamericano Femenino, scoring 9 goals, and did well in WPS, scoring 19 goals as the top scorer. Then I saw Prinz next in line. I thought to myself "Well, it didn't seem like she had a stellar year with her country, and I don't know much about her club stats, but I'm gonna guess that they were not bad. I kind of like Prinz, so I'm not really complaining." But then I saw Bajramaj and thought "What is that all about?" But, then a friend of mine told me she did well for Turbine Potsdam, her Frauen-Bundesliga club. A lot of people are unhappy with the Prinz nomination, agreeing with my first thought of her "Great player, but not a highlight year for her at all." I was rather annoyed after reading this list. Needless to say, FIFA never ceases to amaze me with their strange choices. I for one think Abby Wambach, of all people, should have been on this list. She had a prolific WPS year, notching 13 goals and 8 assists, and scored 16 goals for the USWNT, 8 coming in the Gold Cup. There's no way someone like her should have been left off that list, especially with those numbers. What does she have to do, juggle and ride a unicycle while heading goals in? Even Sinclair, along with Wambach, heavily impacted her National and club team. To ignore both of them is a complete farce. Like I always say, Marta does not deserve 5 POTY Awards in a row. That's ridiculous. Here's what I said to a friend on facebook regarding the nominees:

"I'm still hoping FIFA announces the Prinz and Bajramaj nominations were part of an early April Fool's joke and that Abby and Sinclair are the actual nominations."

That pretty much sums it up right there. Who do I think will win? Well, I bet its going to be Marta. If its Prinz, that would be ridiculous, because it seems like she had an average year compared to some of the other 10 nominees. Bajramaj, I don't even know much about her. She seems to have done well for her club but not her country. If this was done right, they'd have taken club and country stats and impact into account. But, this is FIFA we're talking about. My final verdict is that Marta wins it all for the 5th damn time in a row. Why? Because FIFA picks the usuals, the favorites, and overall does things ass-backwards, or half-assed. Good job FIFA, first you give the 2022 bid to Qatar, and now you screw up the Women's POTY finalists! Good job guys.

Denise