Ballon d’or: FIFA Shortlist 23 Names For The Prestigious Award

World football governing body, FIFA has shortlisted the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’or 23 man list.

Current holder, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who have won the past seven awards between them, lead the nominees.

Messi, who has won the award four times, is joined by fellow team mates Neymar, Andres Iniesta, Javier Mascherano and Ivan Rakitic. Barcelona have the most players nominated.

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Real Madrid stars, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale who is the only British player named, joins Cristiano Ronaldo on the list.

This means that Real Madrid and Barcelona alone provides 10 of the 23 nominated players.

Five Premier League stars make the list, Manchester City trio Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Yaya Toure.

Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and PFA Players’ Player of the Year Eden Hazard, is the only representative from Premier League champions Chelsea.

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Bayern Munich also have five players, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben and Arturo Vidal.

Completing the list is Juventus’ pair Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal who currently plays for Bayern Munich, with Paris Saint-German striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger are on the 10-man Coach of the Year shortlist.

They will contend with Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, who guided his side to the treble of Champions League, Spanish league and Spanish cup titles, and Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola.

Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli is the only national team coach on the list, which also includes Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, Sevilla’s Unai Emery, Laurent Blanc of PSG, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone and Carlo Ancelotti, who left Real Madrid in the summer.

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The final vote for the award will be made by the captains and head coaches of each men’s national team as well as by international media representatives selected by French publication France Football.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Zurich on Jan. 11, 2016.

The list in full:

Fifa Ballon d’Or shortlist: Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Manchester City), Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/VfL Wolfsburg/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain), Andres Iniesta (Spain/FC Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany/FC Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/FC Barcelona), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/FC Barcelona), Arjen Robben (Netherlands/FC Bayern Munich), James Rodriguez (Colombia/Real Madrid), Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/FC Barcelona), Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire/Manchester City), Arturo Vidal (Chile/Juventus/FC Bayern Munich).

Fifa World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football shortlist: Massimiliano Allegri (Italy/Juventus), Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Real Madrid), Laurent Blanc (France/Paris Saint-Germain), Unai Emery (Spain/Sevilla FC), Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Bayern Munich), Luis Enrique (Spain/FC Barcelona), Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Chelsea), Jorge Sampaoli (Argentina/Chilean national team), Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atletico Madrid), Arsene Wenger (France/Arsenal).

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