Thursday, 30th October, 2014
UEFA president Michel Platini wants a German to win the Ballon d’Or in January to honour Germany’s triumph at the World Cup.
FIFA recently released the list of 23 names who are nominated for the award, with the ceremony to be held early next year.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the award last year and is also believed to be the favourite to retain his title.
But Platini has stressed that Germany’s World Cup win means a German should ideally win the Ballon d’Or over other candidates.
“The Ballon d’Or should be awarded to a player who has won the World Cup and has done great things”, the Frenchman told the Algemeen Dagblad.
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“It should therefore be a German this year.”
Mario Gotze, Toni Kroos, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Bastian Schweinsteiger are the German players who feature on the final shortlist of 23.
It will be whittled down to three in December.
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