Ronaldo, Messi and Ribery on Ballon d'Or shortlist

Lionel Messi, Franck Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo have been confirmed on FIFA's three-man shortlist for the 2013 Ballon d'Or, while former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is in the running for the Coach of the Year award.

Barcelona forward Messi, who has already won the title four times, is regarded as the outsider of the three this year because of a injury-hit season.

But the Argentina international has continued to be prolific since being awarded the 2012 prize, leading Barca to another La Liga title with 45 goals and his country to a place at Brazil 2014.

Ronaldo is favourite for the prize after scoring 34 goals in the 2012/13 Primera Division season and terrorising defences in Spain, Europe and in guiding Portugal to World Cup qualification this term.

Ribery is in contention for another prestigious award after being named UEFA's best player in Europe for the 2012-13 season, in which he helped Bayern Munich win the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup.

Gareth Bale did not make the cut from the 23-man longlist despite scoring 26 goals for Tottenham last term before becoming the world's most expensive player when he joined Real Madrid for £85m in September.

The winner will be revealed at the FIFA Ballon d'Or gala in Zurich on January 13, 2014.

The 23-man list was compiled by the FIFA Football Committee and a group of experts from France Football and announced on October 29.

The nominees were confirmed after a voting process which was open to the captains and head coaches of the men's and women's national teams of FIFA's 209 member associations as well as to international media representatives selected by FIFA and France Football.

Who is your favorite?

source:skysports

CR7

Ribery

Ribery.

ribery

Ronaldo...

I'm a fan of Messi and Ribery but Ronaldo will win

Ribery is the best oh before cristano ronaldo

Ronaldo wil win

Ronaldo deserves that

Ronaldo all d way

if they no give Ronaldo then......

Ronaldo i̶̲̥̅̊s̶̲̥̅ d best!

ΐτ̅ doesn't matter d trophy one hs won,merely lukin @ performances & impact of a players on a team.I think RONALDO i̶̲̥̅̊s̶̲̥̅ definitely d best among all

you guy should just say you a tired of messi. looking at it from all corner messi is in a class of legendary footballers perhaps the greatest dead or living. ribery and ronaldo are no doubt good footballer but not comparable to la pulga atomica(the atomic flame) messi.

thelastblackman wrote:

you guy should just say you a tired of messi. looking at it from all corner messi is in a class of legendary footballers perhaps the greatest dead or living. ribery and ronaldo are no doubt good footballer but not comparable to la pulga atomica(the atomic flame) messi.

I can c u r a barka fans

nope ac milan fan since 1990 no be childs

thelastblackman wrote:

nope ac milan fan since 1990 no be childs

Na so

Well,the 3 shortlisted players are about the best right now.ronaldo seems to be the best right now but some things count against him.he's having an excellent season but real madrid won nothing last season and they are not likely to win anything again this season.this was the reason ribery was chosen as the european footballer of the year bcos his club bayern munich won 3 trophies,so to me,ribery is the favourite.they just don't look at personal performance in giving out the award,they look at club performance and country performance too.messi would have won it easily again this year but for the injury hit season.

Messi sha don becom idol 4 pple mind

from fresh to ugly

Messi shuld ß̍̍̊ε̲̣̣̣ gallantly left out of ds noble race.I think d other two contenders (Ronaldo&Ribery) i̶̲̥̅̊s̶̲̥̅ worthy of d award. Its not messi's grandfathers family title,despite d fact he performed lesser,but erfectly belongs to C'Rons 4 his global contributn!

$EBO wrote:

Messi has not impressed me mainly bcos of injuries. Ronaldo deserves it but i hate him for leaving Manchester United. See what Man u has turned into. Now any team at all gets a bonus of 3points for playing Man u. Some fans even committing suicide. Will vote for Ribery because of above reasons even though he has not impressed me. Na ma opinion ooooooooooooo

U̶̲̥̅̊ aя̩̥̊ε̲̣̣̣̥ very funny bro........lolls!