All Blacks, Crusaders up for top sports gongs

Richie McCaw lifts the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The Rugby World Cup winning All Blacks and the Crusaders have both earned nominations for the prestigious Laureus Sports Awards.

The All Blacks have been nominated for team of the year along with Champions League winners Barcelona, NBA champions the Dallas Mavericks, the Women's FIFA World Cup winners Japan, F1 champions Red Bull and the England cricket team.

The All Blacks earned nominations in 2006, 2007 and also last year, which was won by FIFA World Cup winners Spain.

The 2007 Rugby World Cup winning Springboks side took out the award the following year, a good omen for the All Blacks who have never won the award since its inception in 2000.

The Crusaders are up for the comeback of the year after February's Christchurch earthquake forced them to play the entire Super 15 season on the road when AMI Stadium suffered serious damage.

The Queensland Reds, who beat the Crusaders in the Super 15 final, have also been nominated for the award.

The sportsman of the year award will be hotly contested between sprinter Usain Bolt, who has won the award twice, world number one tennis star Novak Djokovic, Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, NBA finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, F1 champion Sebastian Vettel and Tour de France winner Cadel Evans.

New Zealand shot put world champion Valerie Adams missed out on a nomination for sportswoman of the year.

The winners will be announced in February.

Sportsman of the Year Nominees
Usain Bolt
Novak Djokovic
Lionel Messi
Dirk Nowitzki
Sebastian Vettel
Cadel Evans

Sportswoman of the Year Nominees
Vivian Cheruiyot
Maria Höfl-Riesch
Carmelita Jeter
Petra Kvitova
Homare Sawa
Yani Tseng

World Team of the Year Nominees
All Blacks
England Cricket Team
FC Barcelona
Japan Women's Football Team
Dallas Mavericks
Red Bull

Breakthrough of the Year Nominees
Yohan Blake
Petra Kvitova
Rory McIlroy
Li Na
Oscar Pistorius
Mo Farah

Comeback of the Year Nominees
Eric Abidal
Darren Clarke
Crusaders
Sergio Garcia
Liu Xiang
Queensland Reds

Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Nominees
Daniel Dias
Terezinha Guilhermina
Oscar Pistorius
Esther Vergeer
David Weir
Irek Zaripov

Action Sportsperson of the Year Nominees
Jamie Bestwick
Philip Köster
Carissa Moore
Travis Rice
Kelly Slater
Shaun White

- HERALD ONLINE