Gareth Bale up against Ronaldo and Messi for Ballon d’Or
Gareth Bale will go up against Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at this years Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.
The trio have been included in FIFA’s 23-man shortlist for the 2014 Ballon d’Or.
Current holder Cristiano Ronaldo and four-time winner Lionel Messi are again the favourites but the Welsh player may give them a run for their money this year.
Notably missing from the shortlist is former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who was banned for four months in July for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
Suarez’s World Cup bite on Chiellini is what has cost him a place on the Ballon d’Or shortlist despite a prolific season for Liverpool before the tournament.
The FIFA guidebook for selecting the candidates reads: ‘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.’
Ballon d’Or shortlist in full:
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Diego Costa (Atlético Madrid/Chelsea),
Thibaut Courtois (Atlético Madrid/Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Ángel Di María(Real Madrid/Manchester United)
Mario Götze (Bayern Munich), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG), Andrés Iniesta(Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich/Real Madrid)
Philipp Lahm(Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Lionel Messi(Barcelona), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
Neymar (Barcelona), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Sergio Ramos(Real Madrid), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), James Rodríguez(Monaco/Real Madrid), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich),Yaya Touré (Manchester City)
