By Jeremy Fullam
The 23 Man Ballon D'Or Shortlist Has Been Revealed
FIFA have more than halved their 59 man Ballon D'Or list to 23 of the biggest names in World football.
Many eyebrows were raised when the long list was released two weeks ago with some real comedy contenders in there.
However FIFA have removed the deadwood today, and their 23 man Ballon D'Or shortlist features pretty much every household name and World class player in the world.
Manchester City fly the flag for the Premier League with three nominations, Aguero, De Bruyne and Toure. Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez and Chelsea's Eden Hazard are the other representatives from the English top flight.
Unsurprisingly Barcelona and Real Madrid dominate the list with 6 and 5 nominations respectively, German heavyweights Bayern also have five, however Arturo Vidal spent most of his season playing for Juventus.
The final three is more than likely going to be Messi, Ronaldo and AN other as per usual, but with Messi out for a long time with injury, and Ronaldo coming off the back of a trophyless season at the Madrid can someone make a late swoop and take the award?
Here's the candidates most likely to challenge the two superstars.
Sanchez played a pivotal role in guiding Chile to the Copa America during the Summer and he enjoyed a massively successful début season at the Emirates where he established himself as Arsenals key man. He's picked up where he left off this season and he's arguably the best player in the Premier League at the moment. If he can continue his good form he's every chance of being in the final 3.
Brazilian superstar Neymar played a huge role in Barcelona's treble winning success last season by netting 39 goals in all competitions. He's proved himself to be a true World Class talent and he hit four goals and assisted another at the weekend, proving he can step up whilst Messi is out. A poor Copa America may stand against him making the final 3.
The Bayern frontman is currently the most feared striker in Europe after his astonishing start to the season where he's blitzed opposition for both club and country. He's currently the favourite to be the third man alongside Messi and Ronaldo after he's hit a staggering 22 goals for club and country this season.
If he somehow continues this remarkable form maybe he has a chance of winning outright?
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