Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo are the three celebrity football players who are in fray for 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or. All these players have displayed remarkable skills during La Liga to extend their prolific careers. Playing for premium clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, these players have excelled in their game without disappointing fans.
Messi ensured that Barcelona claim the Copa del Rey title during the last instance. The Latin soccer star has since guided Argentina to top spot in their 2014 World Cup qualification section. Being a celebrated player with several achievements to his credit already such as scoring maximum number of goals, there is an increased responsibility upon him now.
The Argentine has scored a phenomenal 82 goals since January this year, and needs just three more for the 2012 season to equal Gerd Mueller's record of 85 strikes for club and country in a calendar year. Considering the tremendous form in which Messi is now, achieving Mueller’s record will not be a great deal. With stars like Ronaldo and Iniesta to compete with him whenever they are pitted against, the football icon will come up with his best always resulting in a goal scoring spree.
Meanwhile, it was Ronaldo who played a defining role be being in the middle for Real Madrid's La Liga triumph last term, netting 46 league goals on an overall, and also helped the team to reach semi-finals of Euro 2012 as well with Portugal.
As far as the performance of Iniesta are considered, he helped his team to be triumphed with Spain at Euro 2012 and won the Copa del Rey alongside team-mate Messi.
Lionel Messi is hoping to be crowned as the world's best footballer for an unprecedented fourth straight year. For a humble soccer star, who has achieved so much and still has got a lot to give to the sport, much better performance could be expected in the coming days.
Elsewhere, in the Coach of the Year category, Vicente Del Bosque, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho were named as the final nominees. This year has been crucial for several players and coaches who were able to make most out of the given chances. Other players like Radamel Falcao of Atletico Madrid too have been in the best of their forms as well. More specifically, taking Atletico to the top league is what Falcao hopes for. In the absence of Fernando Torres, Chelsea has been trying hard for Falcao, but that is unlikely to take place.
Bruno Bini, Norio Sasaki and Pia Sundhage are the trio up for the Coach of the Year trophy in women's football.
Radamel Falcao, Neymar and Miroslav Stoch are in the running to win the Puskas award for goal of the season, while Marta, Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan are in contention for the Women's Player of the Year.
The winners of the awards will be announced in Zurich on January 7. Football fans across the world eagerly await that auspicious day when they will be able to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars.
