FIFA GOLDEN BALL AWARD 2013 LIST OF 23 CANDIDATES

French Magazine "France Football" has released the list of 23 candidates eligible for this years "FIFA GOLDEN BALL Award". The surprise is that there are only 2 Spanish born players & both from FC Barcelona: Andres Iniesta & Xavi Hernandez.

The full list of 23 FIFA Golden Ball candidates:

Gareth Bale (Tottenham/Real Madrid)

Edinson Cavani (Nápoles/PSG)

Radamel Falcao (Atlético/Mónaco)

Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG)

Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)

Philipp Lahm (Bayern Múnich)

Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Thomas Müller (Bayern Múnich)

Neymar (Santos/Barcelona)

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Múnich)

Mesut Özil(Real Madrid/Arsenal)

Andrea Pirlo (Juventus)

Franck Ribery (Bayern Múnich)

Arjen Robben (Bayern Múnich)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Múnich)

Luis Suárez (Liverpool)

Thiago Silva (PSG)

Yaya Toure (Manchester City)

Robin van Persie (Manchester United)

Xavi (Barcelona)

FIFA will reduce this list down to 3 candidates on the 2nd of December & will announce the winner the 13th of January 2013 in Zurich. The current hot favourite is Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich with perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo a close second. However, Cristiano Ronaldo may be getting himself "whipped off" with his public comments & actions of late ( e.g. not attending UEFA Best European Player ceremony ), comments on UEFA & indirectly Platini over Portugals next World Cup qualifier & FIFA President Blatter comments that he prefers Messi. We all know that the FIFA Golden Ball has a heavy weight/element of Marketing & "pulling" the "FIFA/UEFA political band-wagon".

Stay tuned!