Ballon D’Or: Ronaldo, Messi and Neuer Shortlisted

Ronaldo and Messi’s names certainly came as no surprise for the shortlist of this year’s Ballon d’Or. Fans were expecting to see these two on the list. Neuer is facing tough competition as both of his competitors are already Ballon d’Or holders. However, the player could be up for the challenge, especially when this prestigious award is at stake.

The original list comprised of 23 names and include Gareth Bale, the only Briton to feature there. This list was further trimmed down to reach the three names. The assessors were a group of experts from the FIFA Football Committee and France Football.

Ronaldo was the one to win the last installment of the Ballon d’Or in 2013 and as such he is now aiming to defend his crown. He had last year ended Messi’s three year run as the best player since FIFA and France Football had merged their awards.

For Messi, this is the eighth consecutive year that he has been shortlisted for the award. To add to his feat, he has this month broken Champions League and La Liga scores this month. He was also the recipient of the Golden Ball during this year’s World Cup.

As for Neuer, he was the winner of the Golden Glove award in Brazil this year as his team won the World Cup. His other exploits of this year has been to win the German league and cup double with team Bayern Munich. If he won this Ballon d’Or, he would be the second goalkeeper to do so after Lev Yashin.