adminBARCELONA’s striker Luis Suárez has been omitted from Fifa’s 23-man list of contenders for the Ballon d’Or award. The list, which will be whittled down to the one player deemed to be the world’s best, has one Briton and five Premier League players on it, though there is no place for the division’s leading scorer from last season.
The 27-year-old Suárez scored 31 goals for Liverpool as they narrowly missed out on the English title, but his season ended in controversy after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup.
He was handed a four-month ban by Fifa as a consequence – a suspension which ended when he made his Barcelona debut against Real Madrid on Saturday – and would surely have been a strong contender without the incident at the World Cup.
As it is, his Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi and the current Ballon d’Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo are sure to battle it out once more.
Ronaldo’s stunning form in 2014 puts him down as the clear favourite – he guided Real Madrid to the Champions League title in May and has 21 goals in 14 appearances so far this season. His team-mate Gareth Bale also made the list, with the Premier League representation made up of three players from Chelsea, one from Manchester City and one from Manchester United.
Of that quintet, though, only two were playing in the Premier League last season. The Chelsea pair Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa were at Atlético Madrid while Manchester United’s Ángel Di María was with Ronaldo at Real. Eden Hazard of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Yaya Touré are also nominated.
Germany, the World Cup winners, have six players on the list – the most from any nation.
The 23-man list will be whittled down to three on 1 December, with the winner to be announced in Zurich on January 12.
Also named are the nominees for coach of the year, with Manchester City’s title-winning manager Manuel Pellegrini, Chelsea’s José Mourinho and Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal among the 10 contenders.
Ballon d’Or shortlist
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).
Coach of the Year shortlist
Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Antonio Conte (Juventus/Italy national team), Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Jürgen Klinsmann (USA national team), Joachim Löw (Germany national team), José Mourinho (Chelsea), Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Holland national team/Manchester United). — The Guardian
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