Trio up for top award

Zinedine Zidane, Oliver Kahn and Ronaldo are the three contenders for FIFA’s World Player of the Year award.

The trio were the top choices of a panel of more than 140 coaches of national teams.

Ronaldo was the top-scorer with eight goals as Brazil won the World Cup and then joined Real Madrid from Inter Milan in a £29.8m (€46.7m) deal.

Germany goalkeeper Kahn was named by FIFA as the best player at the World Cup, and he has shown impressive form all year for Bayern Munich despite the club’s failure in this season’s Champions League.

French playmaker Zidane scored the winning goal for Real Madrid in May’s Champions League final.

Ronaldo and Zidane have both won the prestigious award twice before.

The award will be handed out at Madrid’s Congress Centre on December 17.