Messi has won the award in each of the last four years, while Ronaldo won the award in 2008 and has since been repeatedly placed second. Ribéry has had a sparkling year for the treble-winners Bayern Munich.
Gareth Bale did not make the cut from the 23-man longlist despite scoring 26 goals for Tottenham last season before becoming the world's most expensive player when he joined Real Madrid for €100m in September.
The winner will be revealed at the Fifa Ballon d'Or gala in Zurich on 13 January. Ronaldo is favourite for the prize after scoring 34 league goals for Real Madrid last season and guiding Portugal to World Cup qualification.
Ribéry is in contention for another award after being named Uefa's best player in Europe for the 2012-13 season, in which he helped Bayern win the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup. Messi has continued to be prolific since being awarded the 2012 prize, leading Barcelona to another La Liga title with 45 goals and Argentina to a place at Brazil 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment