Seven FC Barcelona players among Ballon d'Or nominees
FC Barcelona dominate the list of candidates for FIFA’s Ballon d’Or, which will be awarded at a gala in Zurich on January 11, 2016.
Once again, Lionel Messi, Barça’s Argentine forward, is the big favourite to lift the trophy, ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the current holder of the prize for football’s best player.
In total, seven FC Barcelona players (Messi, Javier Mascherano, Claudio Bravo, Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Neymar and Luis Suarez) are among the 59 players.
It’s a list that, among other media, Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport made public on Friday. In December 59 will be cut to 23 by a commission, with Madrid president Florentino Perez among the people on the that commission.
The three finalists, one of whom will surely be Messi, will then be announced a few days later. That will depend on who the national team captains, managers and one journalist from each country vote.
By countries, here is the list:
ARGENTINA:
Aguero (Manchester City), Mascherano (FC Barcelona), Messi (FC Barcelona), Otamendi (Valencia-Manchester City), Pastore (PSG), Tevez (Juve-Boca).
AUSTRALIA:
Luongo (Swindon-QPR)
AUSTRIA:
Alaba (Bayern Munich)
BELGIUM:
Courtois (Chelsea), De Bruyne (Wolfsburg-Man. City), Hazard (Chelsea)
BRAZIL:
Coutinho (Liverpool), Neymar (FC Barcelona), Willian (Chelsea)
CHILE:
Bravo (FC Barcelona), Medel (Inter Milan), Sanchez (Arsenal), Vargas (QPR-Hoffenheim), Vidal (Juve-Bayern Múnich)
COLOMBIA:
Bacca (Sevilla-AC Milan), Jackson Martinez (Porto-Atletico Madrid), Ospina (Arsenal), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid)
SOUTH KOREA:
Son (Leverkusen-Tottenham)
IVORY COAST:
Bony (Swansea-Manchester City), Yaya Touré (Manchester City)
CROATIA:
Modric (Real Madrid), Rakitic (FC Barcelona)
FRANCE:
Benzema (Real Madrid), Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Lacazette (Olympique Lyon), Pogba (Juventus)
WALES:
Bale (Real Madrid)
GERMANY:
Kroos (Real Madrid), Muller (Bayern Munich), Neuer (Bayern Munich)
GHANA:
Atsu (Everton-Bournemouth), Ayew (Marseille-Swansea)
JAPAN:
Okazaki (Leicester)
ENGLAND:
Kane (Tottenham), Rooney (Manchester United)
ITALY:
Chiellini (Juventus), Pirlo (Juventus-New York City)
MEXICO:
Dos Santos (Villarreal-L.A. Galaxy), Guardado (PSV Eindhoven)
HOLLAND:
Depay (PSV Eindhoven-Manchester United), Robben (Bayern Munich)
PERU:
Guerrero (Corinthians-Flamengo)
POLAND:
Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
PORTUGAL:
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
SPAIN:
Diego Costa (Chelsea), De Gea (Manchester United), Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Morata (Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
SWEDEN:
Ibrahimovic (PSG)
URUGUAY:
Cavani (PSG), Sanchez (River), Luis Suarez (FC Barcelona)
