World media stunned as Luongo included on Ballon d’Or long list

Media outlets in Spain, Italy and England have all questioned the inclusion of Australia midfielder Massimo Luongo on a leaked 59-man Ballon d’Or list.

Massimo Luongo shows his delight at opening the scoring for Australia against Korea Republic (Getty) Source: Getty Images

Italian media was particularly outraged that the Championship player was in ahead of Gianluigi Buffon with leading sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport describing it as an “own goal” on their front page.

It wasn’t only Luongo’s inclusion that raised eyebrows. Arsenal’s David Ospina and Bournemouth’s Christian Atsu were also nominated.

AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini was highly critical of the decision to omit Buffon.

"The trophy loses value when it just comes down to pleasing clubs and federations," Maldini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Come on, how is this possible? It's absurd. There are players there just because of their name.

"Gigi deserves to be on the list for what he has achieved and how he has achieved it. At nearly 38 years old, he is still one of the three best goalkeepers in the world.

"Ok, I accept Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) and (Thibaut) Courtois (Chelsea), but Bravo and Ospina?”

AS, Madrid’s second most popular sports daily newspapers, accused FIFA of ‘belittling’ the award by nominating a ‘stranger’ in Luongo.

Many of these publications failed to mention that the Socceroos star was the player of the tournament during January’s Asian Cup – which appears to be the catalyst for the decision.

Former Socceroos player Harry Kewell was one of the people on FIFA’s Football Committee who compiled the 59-player list.

Other notable absentees were David Silva, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Mesut Ozil, Philipp Lahm, Marco Reus, Koke, Vincent Kompany and Marco Verratti.

The 59-man Ballon d'Or long-list is

Claudio Bravo - Barcelona

Javier Mascherano - Barcelona

Andres Iniesta - Barcelona

Lionel Messi - Barcelona

Ivan Rakitic - Barcelona

Neymar - Barcelona

Luis Suarez - Barcelona

Gareth Bale - Real Madrid

Karim Benzema - Real Madrid

Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid

Luka Modric - Real Madrid

James Rodriguez - Real Madrid

Toni Kroos - Real Madrid

Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus

Paul Pogba - Juventus

Alvaro Morata - Juventus

Arturo Vidal - Juventus/Bayern

Andrea Pirlo - Juventus/NYCFC

Carlos Tevez - Juventus/Boca

Robert Lewandowski - Bayern

Arjen Robben - Bayern

David Alaba - Bayern

Thomas Muller - Bayern

Manuel Neuer - Bayern

Wilfried Bony - Manchester City

Yaya Toure - Manchester City

Sergio Aguero - Manchester City

Nicolas Otamendi - valencia/Manchester City

Kevin de Bruyne - Wolfsburg/Manchester City

Diego Costa - Chelsea

Willian - Chelsea

Thibaut Courtois - Chelsea

Eden Hazard - Chelsea

Edinson Cavani - PSG

Zlatan Ibrahimovic - PSG

Javier Pastore - PSG

Wayne Rooney - Manchester United

David de Gea - Manchester United

Memphis Depay - PSV/Manchester United

David Ospina - Arsenal

Alexis Sanchez - Arsenal

Antoine Griezmann - Atletico Madrid

Jackson Martinez - Porto/Atletico Madrid

Carlos Bacca - Sevilla/AC Milan

Giovani dos Santos - Villarreal/LA Galaxy

Phillippe Coutinho - Liverpool

Son Heung-Min - Leverkusen/Tottenham

Christian Atsu - Everton/Bournemouth

Paolo Guerrero - Flamengo/Corinthians

Eduardo Vargas - QPR/Hoffenheim

Gary Medel - Inter

Harry Kane - Tottenham

Alexandre Lacazette - Lyon

Andres Guardado - PSV

Carlos Sanchez - River Plate

Andre Ayew - Marseille/Swansea

Massimo Luongo - Swindon/QPR

Shinji Okazaki - Mainz/Leicester