Feliz Martes! The FIFA Ballon d’Or preliminary list of 23 men has been finalised and although the final 3 names will be announced on December 5th, you have an entire month to gloss over this. There haven’t been many surprises and we’ve highlighted whom we think will probably and predictably make the cut based on the votes – and if it doesn’t work out, they can still make this into a Ballon d’Or reality TV show!
Éric Abidal (France), Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brazil), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Diego Forlán (Uruguay), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), David Villa (Spain), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Xavi (Spain).
Also, we’re probably going to get daggers thrown at us for this… but isn’t it a little bizarre to have Neymar in the list so soon? Sure, he’s a star with a fantastic future ahead of him but it seems a little too early. There are still important things he has to do, such as appearing on dance TV shows in Brasil!
Photos via EgO & La Voz Libre
