Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi headline the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or 2014, after FIFA revealed 23 players in contention for football’s most coveted individual honour.
The FIFA Football Committee will determine the eventual winner on January 12th, 2015 – after the shortlist is again culled to just three candidates on December 1st.
Ronaldo is heavy favourite to win the award for a second time. He scored 51 goals from 47 games across all competitions and, in a winning team, was the Champions League top goal scorer for the second year in a row.
Perennial contender Lionel Messi has had injury troubles the past year, but still managed to win the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup and scored 41 goals in 46 appearances to position himself handsomely to challenge Ronaldo for the title.
The bookies then have a sizeable gap between these two and the rest of the field.
The German international Thomas Muller has a World Cup, 26 goals and a Bundesliga title under his belt this year, whilst compatriot and Golden Glove winner Manuel Neuer is highly considered to make the final three.
Philipp Lahm, Arjen Robben, Neymar, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale round out the favourites to feature on January 12th.
The final ten contenders for ‘FIFA Coach of the Year’ were also announced – with the field being far more even than the Ballon d’Or. Germany’s Joachim Low or Argentina’s Alejandro Sabella are expected to feature after their teams’ superb World Cup performances.
On top of this, there are high expectations for many club managers, Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Antonio Conte (Juventus) and Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid) – after their teams took out the La Liga, Serie A and Champions League titles respectively.
2014 candidates for the FIFA Ballon d’Or (in alphabetical order):
Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema (France), Diego Costa (Spain), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Mario Goetze (Germany), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Mueller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire).
2014 FIFA Coach of the Year candidates (in alphabetical order):
Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Real Madrid CF), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus FC/Italy national team), Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Bayern Munich), Juergen Klinsmann (Germany/ USA national team), Joachim Loew (Germany/Germany national team), Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Chelsea FC), Manuel Pellegrini (Chile/Manchester City FC), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina/Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atletico Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Netherlands/Netherlands national team/Manchester United FC).
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