Spain’s Primera Division dominates the FIFA’s 23-man Ballon d’Or shortlist with 11 players with the Premier League and Bundesliga each contributing five.
Real Madrid and Barcelona continue their dominance of La liga with 5 and 6 players from both teams respectively.
The list includes; 2014 winner Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale the only British player on the list for the third successive year, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos,James Rodriguez for Madrid while Barcelona has Lionel Messi,Neymar, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta,Javier Mascherano and Ivan Rakitic.
The premier League is dominated by Manchester City players with a trio of Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Yaya Toure.
Chelsea is represented by winger Eden Hazard and Arsenal by Alexis Sanchez who helped his country Chile to Copa America success in 2015.
The Bundesliga has players all from Bayern Munich which shows how they are a force in Germany Football. The list has Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben and Arturo Vidal, while Paul Pogba of Juventus from Seria A and Paris St Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic from the French Ligue 1 complete the list.
Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho are both on a 10-man shortlist for the coach of the year award, alongside Barcelona’s Champions League-winning coach Luis Enrique and Bayern Munich’s 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 Madridchief Diego Simeone and Carlo Ancelotti, who left Real Madrid in the summer.
England women’s coach Mark Sampson is on the coach of the year for women’s football shortlist, alongside Englishmen Colin Bell (Frankfurt) and John Herdman (Canada), but there are no British footballers on the women’s player of the year list.
FIFA #BALLONDOR 23 candidates, one trophy. Who do you think will be crowned on 11 January? https://t.co/VNSyEfqCqo pic.twitter.com/W0qlYk2FIk
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) October 20, 2015
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/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris St Germain), Andres Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany/Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/Barcelona), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/Barcelona), Arjen Robben (Holland/Bayern Munich), James Rodriguez (Colombia/Real Madrid), Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/Barcelona), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast/Manchester City), Arturo Vidal (Chile/Bayern Munich).
FIFA #BALLONDOR 10 coaches, but only one FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football https://t.co/VNSyEfqCqo pic.twitter.com/blidRGrqtz — FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) October 20, 2015
COACH OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST: Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Carlo Ancelotti (Formerly of Real Madrid), Laurent Blanc (Paris St Germain), Unai Emery (Sevilla), Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Luis Enrique (Barcelona), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Jorge Sampaoli (Chile), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).
The world player and coach of the year will be voted on a ceremony in Zurich on January 11, 2016.
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