December 2 – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are, as expected, on the three-man shortlist again for this year’s Ballon d’Or prize as the world’s best player, but the nomination of German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is more of a surprise though fully deserved.
The three have been chosen from an initial 23-man list for the award which will be announced on 12 January by FIFA at their annual gala ceremony in Switzerland.
Nadine Kessler (Germany), Marta (Brazil) and Abby Wambach (USA) have been shortlisted for the women’s award.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, whose side won the Champions League, Germany’s World Cup winning boss Joachim Low and Atletico Madrid’s La Liga title-winning coach Diego Simeone are on the shortlist for coach of the year.
Real Madrid’s Ronaldo took over from Messi by winning last year’s FIFA award and once again goes head to head with his Argentine and Barcelona rival. Four-time winner Messi won the honour in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and last month broke the La Liga goalscoring record to add to his Champions League record. He has been either first or second in each of the last seven years.
Neuer, whose brilliance both as a shot-stopper and sweeper-style keeper helped Germany win the World Cup and has been instrumental in Bayern Munich’s emergence as one of Europe’s most feared and successful sides, will be hoping to become the first goalkeeper since Russia’s legendary Lev Yashin in 1963 to clinch the prestigious award.
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