The shortlist for the Ballon d’Or World Footballer of the Year has been announced and Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney is the only British player to make the list. However, it does seem highly unlikely that he will win the award as the completion is huge.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or for the past two seasons and is once again the favourite to walk away with the award for a third time. However Real Madrid goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo will have something to say about that after breaking the goal scoring record in the Spanish league last season.
The last English player to win the Ballon d’Or World Player of the Year was Michael Owen, back in 2001 and it seems that we could have quite some wait before seeing another English winner. The rest of the players on the shortlist are as follows:
Eric Abidal, Sergio Aguero, Karim Benzema, Iker Casillas, Dani Alves, Samuel Eto'o, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Forlan, Andres Iniesta, Thomas Muller, Nani, Neymar, Mesut Ozil, Gerard Pique, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Wesley Sneijder, Luis Suarez, David Villa, Xabi Alonso, Xavi.
