Tuesday, 28th October, 2014
Real Madrid's Gareth Bale is the only British player named on the 23-man shortlist for FIFA’s Ballon d’Or award.
Angel di Maria, Eden Hazard, Yaya Toure, Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa are the Premier League players to feature on the final list for the award.
Bale joined Real Madrid last summer from Tottenham Hotspur and scored 22 goals in a season that saw the club lift the Champions League for a record tenth time.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, a three-time recipient of the award, Neymar and Andres Iniesta have also made the shortlist.
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo will be looking to retain the award, beating off competition from his great rival Messi to do so.
The 23-man shortlist will be reduced to three and the winner will be announced on 12th January, 2015.
FIFA Ballon d'Or Shortlist
Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema (France), Diego Costa (Spain), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel di Maria (Argentina), Mario Gotze (Germany), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)
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