The following 23 men (in alphabetical

order) are in contention for the FIFA

Ballon d’Or 2014:

Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema

(France), Diego Costa (Spain),

Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano

Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel Di Maria

(Argentina), Mario Goetze (Germany),

Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan

Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta

(Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany),

Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier

Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi

(Argentina), Thomas Mueller

(Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany),

Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France),

Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben

(Netherlands), James Rodriguez

(Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger

(Germany), Yaya Toure (Côte

d’Ivoire)

Title eidt: And Thibaut Courtois. Forgot to mention. That's 3 of our players in the 23 man strong list.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by SpeciallyHazarded

Don't think they have a chance of winning it, but it's nice to see them up there. Could boost their confidence as well.

After winning champions league last season it will most likely be ronaldo again.

Ronaldo is an absolute cert.

Even if we won the quadruple and won all 38 games in the league a Real, Bayern or Barca player would win it, it's how it goes.

 

Ronaldo will win, the other 2 finalists will probably be Messi and 1 of Robben/Neuer/Lahm.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by Jonty

Yeah Ronaldo is a lock. Courtois has a shot at the best XI squad though

Also you didn't mention the coaches nominations, but I really hope Simeone wins. His achievement was far more impressive than Low or Ancelotti in my book.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by Jonty

Ronaldo is an absolute cert but good to see we have 3 out of the 23 named and only one other English club has a single player in the list

Doesn't the ballon d'or go by what the player achieved previous season also? If so, costa should definitely win no doubt. He led atletico to the title and final of CL last season as probably big underdogs, and this season with us he's the top scorer and helped us to top of table. However, as per usual the darlings of the award will be favourites.

Also you didn't mention the coaches nominations, but I really hope Simeone wins. His achievement was far more impressive than Low or Ancelotti in my book.

 

Indeed. But he has some black marks where he has lost his sh*t once or twice. Dunno if that counts against you in these decisions though

The f**k are neuer, mueller and ribery always there?! Robben I understand, but bayern in a weak league winning the league every season with relative ease shouldn't be considered at all. Bayern got destroyed in CL last season by real madrid ffs!

The list is meant to be alphabetical yet Ronaldo is listed before; Angel Di Maria
(Argentina), Mario Goetze (Germany),
Eden Hazard (Belgium???

 

Well done to our three though, don't think any of them deserve to be in the top three but it's great to see them listed.

The f**k are neuer, mueller and ribery always there?! Robben I understand, but bayern in a weak league winning the league every season with relative ease shouldn't be considered at all. Bayern got destroyed in CL last season by real madrid ffs!

 

You must have missed the world cup I guess. Goetze is there pretty much solely for that goal in the final. Oh and Ribery is not on the list.

Shows you how much of a joke it is when ibrahimovic, neymar and iniesta are on the list and suarez is not.

The surprise inclusion here is Iniesta. And I'm pretty sure Ronaldo will win. Scored in probably a ballon d'or deciding Clasico too. Would be a bonus for us if either of Hazard or Costa come fourth or third.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by SpeciallyHazarded

The list is meant to be alphabetical yet Ronaldo is listed before; Angel Di Maria

(Argentina), Mario Goetze (Germany),

Eden Hazard (Belgium???

Good observation lol. Maybe the FIFA are trying to make the choice obvious!

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by SpeciallyHazarded

Shows you how much of a joke it is when ibrahimovic, neymar and iniesta are on the list and suarez is not.

 

From the FIFA website:

 

The selection criteria for the players of the year (men's and women's) are: sporting performance 

as well as general behaviour on and off the pitch from 30 November 2013 until 21 November 

2014. 

Be a good boy now

Part-time players are also ineligible for the award.

Impossible to include Suarez in the shortlist when it says about behaviour as well. Ronaldo is going to get it hands down.

I stopped taking the Balon D'or seriously when I saw this 

 

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/ballond%27or/playeroftheyear%28men%29/02/26/02/68/fboaward_menplayer2013_neutral.pdf

 

Last years votes. It's ridiculous the amount of captains who voted for a teammate. Note that neither Ronaldo or Messi voted for each other in the top 3.

 

Captain and coach of San Marino (which is in Italy) both voted for Pirlo in the top 2. Messi voted for 3 teammates. Kompany had Toure (Man City) and Hazard (Belgium) in the top 3. Gerrard voted Suarez. Wales coach voted for Bale. Turkey voted for Ozil. The list is endless. It's almost as bad as Eurovision.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by RichardCFC

They obviously pay more importance to world cup and champions league than league, otherwise costa should win hands down, and that's not being biased. It's getting boring seeing the same people win it year in, year out.

I'd go for Costa.

They obviously pay more importance to world cup and champions league than league, otherwise costa should win hands down, and that's not being biased. It's getting boring seeing the same people win it year in, year out.

 

It would be nice to see Diego Costa win it. Personally i think he should be in the top 3 for sure. He was the main reason why Atletico Madrid won the league last season. Stopping both Barcelona and Real Madrid from winning that league is a hell of an achievement.