Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas and Andrea Pirlo are among the top candidates for the Ballon d’Or award after a 23-man shortlisted was announced on Monday.
The Barcelona superstar heads the list having scored 73 goals in all competitions for the Catalans, although working against him is the fact they failed to win any major trophies last season.
Casillas lifted the 2012 European Championship title with Spain and the La Liga crown with Real Madrid is a favourite, along with club team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo who helped Portugal reach the semifinals in Poland and Ukraine.
The ageless Pirlo played a major role in Juventus’ first Serie A title in years as they went through the league season unbeaten, before helping Italy reach the final of the Euros.
Among the other candidates are Manchester City trio Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure, while Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is the only Englishman, while Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez are sure to come into calculations.
The shortlist will be further reduced to just three finalists on November 29 before the award is handed out in early January.
List: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Mario Balotelli (Manchester City), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Didier Drogba (Shanghai Shenhua), Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Neymar (Santos), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Yaya Toure (Manchester City), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona)