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The governing body of football and France football experts have announced the list of 23 players for FIFA Ballon D’or 2014. Best players from all over the world have been selected for the award out of which top 3 will be selected later. The list have shocked football fans with exclusion of Barcelona striker Luis Suarez. He suffered long ban by FIFA because of world cup bite incident which could be the reason of his exclusion. Few days ago, he made debut for Barca against Real Madrid on 25th October 2014. As expected Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are there without any doubt. Once again, Germany have dominated this list with total 6 World Cup champions.
23 Players List of FIFA Ballon D’or 2014 Nominees [Male]
Here is the shortlist of 2014 FIFA Ballon D’or award contenders
| No. | Player | Club [Current] | Country |
| 1 | Philipp Lahm | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 2 | Thomas Muller | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 3 | Manuel Neuer | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 4 | Bastian Schweinsteiger | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 5 | Mario Gotze | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 6 | Arjen Robben | Bayern Munich | Netherlands |
| 7 | Toni Kroos | Real Madrid | Germany |
| 8 | Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | Wales |
| 9 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Portugal |
| 10 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | France |
| 11 | James Rodriguez | Real Madrid | Colombia |
| 12 | Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid | Spain |
| 13 | Lionel Messi | Barcelona | Argentina |
| 14 | Neymar | Barcelona | Brazil |
| 15 | Javier Mascherano | Barcelona | Argentina |
| 16 | Andres Iniesta | Barcelona | Spain |
| 17 | Thibaut Courtois | Chelsea | Belgium |
| 18 | Diego Costa | Chelsea | Spain |
| 19 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | Belgium |
| 20 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Paris Saint Germain | Sweden |
| 21 | Paul Pogba | Juventus | France |
| 22 | Angel Di Maria | Manchester United | Argentina |
| 23 | Yaya Toure | Manchester City | Cote d’Ivoire |
Total of eight European football clubs are selected for this award. Just the list of 23 contenders for FIFA Ballon D’or revealed and the Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo is considered as the strongest competitor. About this award Michel Platini stated that “Neither Cristiano Ronaldo, nor Lionel Messi, this award should be won by a German Player.” According to this statement, the Bayern & German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, his partner Philipp Lahm are the favorites to win this award. Most contenders from one club: Bayern Munich & Real Madrid [6 players each] Most contenders from one country: Germany [6 players] This list of has been drawn by the FIFA football committee experts and group of France football experts. Along with this list, top ten coaches are also announced for the best coach 2014. List of best forwards, midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers for FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist will be revealed in the end of November month. On 12 January 2015, the name of FIFA Ballon D’or 2014 winner will be revealed during the award ceremony. The show will be organized at the Zurich Kongresshaus in which FIFPro World XI, best goal of the year, FIFA Presidential award, best coach of the year, fair player award and the Puskas award winners will be announced. So what do you think, who is going to lift the trophy of FIFA Ballon D’or 2014 award?
