Six Juventus stars were named in FIFA’s 59-man shortlist for the 2015 Ballon d’Or, however, they omitted goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon.
The Italian international goalkeeper was omitted from the list despite leading Juventus to several big victories including Serie A, the Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italiana as well as the Champions League final last season.
The omission has prompted several critical responses across Italy including a headline of La Gazzetta dello Sport, which dubbed the decision as buffoonery.
Former Juventus and Italy coach Marcello Lippi was also surprised with the World Cup winner’s exclusion.
“There is little to say about it,” he began.
“I don’t want to offend anyone, but it seems a farce to me that he [Buffon] is not on the list,” the coach said.
“The whole world knows his value and watched what he did in 2015.”
Only once has the award been won by a goalkeeper, Lev Yashin in 1963, although Italian Dino Zoff was runner-up in 1973, and Buffon was runner-up in 2006 after helping Italy win the World Cup.
In this year’s list, five goalkeepers were named: Claudio Bravo, Thibaut Courtois, David De Gea, Manuel Neuer and David Ospina.
Despite the snub of Buffon, Juventus have the second most representatives of any team, just one less than Barcelona. However, three Bianconeri representatives are no longer at the club, with Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo having moved on in the summer.
