Ronaldo wins FIFA Ballon d'Or 2013

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Gareth Bale, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on 23-man Fifa Ballon d'Or shortlist for the prestigious world player of the year award. Our boy Eden Hazard also made the shortlist this year after a terrific spell in his first season at Chelsea.

The 23-man shortlist for the prestigious world player of the year award was announced early on Tuesday morning, with the winner to be unveiled on January 13 in Zurich.

Bale, 24, became the world's most expensive player when he joined Real Madrid from Tottenham for 100 million (£85.3m) in September after scoring 26 goals for Spurs last season.

Barcelona and Argentina forward Messi has won the award for the last four years, with Bale's Madrid team-mate Ronaldo consistently his nearest challenger.

Franck Ribery, who was named Uefa's best player in Europe for the 2012-13 season after helping Bayern Munich win the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup, is another prominent name on the shortlist.

Ribery is joined by club-mates Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger while Barcelona also have Xavi, Andres Iniesta and summer signing Neymar among the candidates.

Paris St Germain trio Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Thiago Silva have made the shortlist while fellow Ligue 1 big-spenders Monaco have a contender of their own in Radamel Falcao, acquired from Atletico Madrid in the close season.

Five Premier League players - Manchester United striker Robin van Persie, Manchester City's Yaya Toure, controversial Liverpool frontman Luis Suarez, Chelsea winger Eden Hazard and Arsenal's recent addition Mesut Ozil - have made the cut.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired at the end of last season, headlines a 10-man coach of the year shortlist along with Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Spain boss Vicente del Bosque.

Ballon d'Or shortlist:
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales)
Edinson Cavani (Paris St Germain/Uruguay)
Radamel Falcao (Monaco/Colombia)
Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Belgium)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain/Sweden)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich/Germany)
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund/Poland)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)
Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich/Germany)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich/Germany)
Neymar (Barcelona/Brazil)
Mesut Ozil (Arsenal/Germany)
Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/Italy)
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich/France)
Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich/Netherlands)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich/Germany)
Luis Suarez (Liverpool/Uruguay)
Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain/Brazil)
Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast)
Robin van Persie (Manchester United/Netherlands)
Xavi (Barcelona/Spain)

Coach of the year shortlist:
Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid/ex-Paris St Germain)
Rafael Benitez (Napoli/ex-Chelsea)
Antonio Conte (Juventus)
Vicente Del Bosque (Spain)
Sir Alex Ferguson (ex-Manchester United)
Jupp Heynckes (ex-Bayern Munich)
Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund)
Jose Mourinho (Chelsea/ex-Real Madrid)
Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil)
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)

My vote goes to Ribery this year after the most amazing season he had with Bayern.

In the coaching department, Jupp Heynckes deserves the award after that amazing treble.

Hope Mourinho and Eden can make the cut in 2014. *fingers crossed*

[Roquila 1,335]

Messi will win the Ballon d'Or and Jupp will win the Manager award, it's pretty obvious.

IF: Ronaldo wins Ballon d'Or and Rafa wins the Manager award im gonna hang myself. This will never happen though.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Added poll. But the max number of options you can have for a question is 20. So, let's forget about Toure, RVP and Xavi...they're never going to win it anyway

[Amblève. 4,995]

If one Chelsea player deserved to be nominated it should have been Mata, not Hazard.

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

If one Chelsea player deserved to be nominated it should have been Mata, not Hazard.

Mata won't get the recognition he deserves...for me, he's just a bit too reserved.

Hazard will get recognition cause he's an explosive player, just like C.Ronaldo, Robben, Ribery.

[DJames 729]

Congrats to Eden!!

Hopefully this nomination will kick his butt in a gear in performance. One day that Ballon d'Or will be his

[didierforever 7,349]

ribery, heyneckes...

[Jase 43,479]

Yet again, it's ridiculous and amusing that Wenger somehow made it into the shortlist when he didn't even achieve anything of note in the past year (or last 8 years for that matter!). If someone deserves to be in there, instead of Wenger, it is Diego Simeone. The work he has put in to transforming Atletico Madrid to where they are now and winning trophies in the past 2-3 years is incredible. It's pathetic that he isn't even in there when he has done more than Wenger in the last few years!

[Rmpr 8,977]

Player: Ribery or Ibrahimovic

Coach: Heynckles or Klopp

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Ibra no doubt about it.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Ribery might nick it from Messi this year. Don't think Ronaldo is any threat to him this year, in fact after Ribery and Messi it should be Ibra in third place.

[edetarod 2,155]

player: Ronaldo

coach: Heynckes

goal: Ibra

[zolayes 14,489]

as usual no keepers and hardly any defenders ...ALL the GLORY boys again

If I had vote it would be for Lahm for that reason

[Liquidator 5,176]

Rafa and Wenger are going to look horribly out of place at the awards do...

[The Skipper 20,593]

Ronaldo deserves it.

[Jakub Sośnicki 1]

IMO only Zlatan deserves it. He's magic individual player. He makes all the game in Sweden national team and PSG. And his goals! Amazing

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Ronaldo deserves it.

Funny, I wouldn't put him in the top 3 this year! Messi, Zlatan and Ribery for me.

[Jype 6,398]

Ribery, Ronaldo and Zlatan have all been way better this calendar year than Messi who's been injured a lot.

Zlatan is my personal favorite of that bunch but as long as Messi doesn't win I really don't care who does.