Spanish media Mundo Deportivo has provided a list of 59 players who has been shortlisted by FIFA world FIFA Ballon d’Or award. This is a leaked list and still not confirmed, but it is likely to be right as the media house has a good reputation and most of the choices are obvious.
It is the preliminary shortlist which will be reduced to 23 men by a committee of FIFA.
Then those 23 players will be voted by national team captains, national managers, and one journalist per country.
The list consists all the big names who are frontrunners for the award, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez etc.
Although, it is an achievement for all the players to be named in the list.
The list contains 7 names from Real Madrid and Barcelona each.
The Real Madrid players in the list are- Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos.
The Barcelona players in the list are- Claudio Bravo, Javier Mascherano, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Chelsea has the most number of players from Premier League. The names are Willian, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa. Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu is also on the list, which could arguably push Chelsea’s number up to 5. Atsu was player of the tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations, and also won goal of the tournament.
Manchester city also has five players, but two among them were bought in the summer. The names are Yaya Toure, Wilfred Bony and Sergio Aguero along with summer signing Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin De Bruyne.
Some surprise exclusions from the list are David silva and Fabregas.
Juventus and Bayern also have six and five players respectively in the list. The former represents Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Alvaro Morata, Giorgio Chiellini and Paul Pogba. The first three players, however, left the Old Lady this summer. Bayern’s five names in the list are Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba, Arjen Robben, Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller although Vidal’s arrival makes it six for the Bundesliga holders.
Manchester United have two names in the list with Wayne Rooney and David de Gea. although, Depay is also in the list but thanks to his PSV days.
Arsenal also has two names with David Ospina and Alexis Sanchez.
The only inclusion for Liverpool is Philippe Coutinho.
Swansea, Leicester city and spurs also have one player each in the list with Andre Ayew, Shinji Okazaki and Harry Kane respectively.
There are only two names from England with Rooney and Kane.