Reportedly, FIFA has announced on Tuesday that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Franck Ribery, Gareth Bale along with Neymar are among the 23 candidates on the short list for the Ballon d'Or. Remarkably Ribery, who won UEFA's best player in Europe award for the 2012-13 season, steered Bayern Munich to win the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles.
Unfortunately Messi, who is the winner of the last four Ballon d'Or awards and voted by coaches, team captains as well as media, was severely injured late in the season. As a result, he was unable to prevent Barcelona from being hammered by Bayern in the Champions League semifinals.
Meanwhile, Neymar joined Messi at Barcelona this season following a shift from Santos in his native Brazil. On the other side, Welshman Bale shifted from Tottenham to Real Madrid in September for 100 million euros, which is known to be the richest transfer in football history.
In addition, another nominee was Liverpool forward Luis Suarez. Actually, he missed the start of the 2013-14 Premier League season while serving a 10-game suspension for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic during a Premier League match in April.
Particularly, the Ballon d'Or or world player of the year winner will be proclaimed on 13th January in Zurich.
Two recently retired managers - Bayern's Jupp Heynckes and Alex Ferguson of Manchester United are among the 10 nominees for FIFA's coach of the year award.
Ballon d'Or nominees are Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Gareth Bale (Wales), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Thomas Mueller (Germany), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Neymar (Brazil), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Franck Ribery (France), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast), Xavi (Spain). Coach of the year nominees with nationalities and teams are Carlo Ancelotti (Italy, Paris Saint-Germain/Real Madrid), Antonio Conte (Italy, Juventus), Rafael Benitez (Spain, Chelsea/Napoli), Alex Ferguson (Scotland, Manchester United, retired), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain, Spain national team), Juergen Klopp (Germany, Borussia Dortmund), Jupp Heynckes (Germany, Bayern Munich, retired), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil, Brazil national team), Jose Mourinho (Portugal, Real Madrid/Chelsea) and Arsene Wenger (France, Arsenal).
