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Will this be the year that Marta will be dethroned as FIFA’s women’s world player of the year? The Brazilian striker has won the award for the past five years and was among the 10 players nominated for the 2011 award.

The United States has three players on the list all of whom played for the WNT at last summer’s Women’s World Cup in Germany. The three Americans are Alex Morgan, Hope Solo and Abby Wambach.

The 10 players were selected by members of the Committee for Women’s Football and representatives from the magazine France Football, which has awarded the Ballon d’Or (Golden Boot) since 1956. (FIFA began giving its world player of the year awards in 1991, for men, and 2001, for women.) Seven of the 10 finalists have experience in WPS including Marta and Homare Sawa, the captain of Japan’s team, which defeated the United States in a penalty-kick shootout to win its first world title.

The top three finalists, to be picked by the captains and head coaches of women’s national teams and international news media representatives, will be announced Dec. 5. The winner will be announced Jan. 9 in Zurich.

The 10 nominees:

Sonia Bompastor (France), Kerstin Garefrekes (Germany), Marta (Brazil), Aya Miyama (Japan), Alex Morgan (U.S.), Louisa Necib (France), Homare Sawa (Japan), Lotta Schelin (Sweden), Hope Solo (U.S.), Abby Wambach (U.S.).

The announcement begs some questions:

Will this be the year Marta is supplanted as the world’s top female player?

Should the award go to one of the two Japanese on the list after that country won the World Cup? Does Morgan’s role as the supersub for the United States make her worthy of the award?

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