Zimpapers Logo

LONDON. — Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar will contest the 2015 Ballon d’Or after they were named as final nominees yesterday.

Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the prize for the last seven years but both face strong competition this year from Messi’s Barcelona team-mate Neymar.

Ronaldo has claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards with Messi winning the previous four editions of the award, the first of those given when it was known as the FIFA World Player of the Year prize.

He has also been runner-up to Ronaldo on the three occasions the Portuguese has won it, the first of those in 2008.

The winners will be announced at FIFA’s Ballon d’Or Gala in Zurich on January 11, with four other prizes also on offer.

They are the Women’s World Player of the Year, the men’s and women’s World Coach of the Year and the FIFA Puskas Award, given for the goal judged to be the best in the world in the past year.

England women’s manager Mark Sampson – who led his team to third at the World Cup – is one of three candidates for the Women’s Coach of the Year accolade.

Ronaldo has been named the world’s best footballer for the past two years, ending Messi’s four-year hold on an award which is regarded as the game’s most prestigious individual accolade.

The three forwards were chosen from a 23-man list that also included Wales and Real Madrid attacker Gareth Bale.

It is the first time Brazil’s Neymar (23), who along with Messi has helped Barcelona to the top of La Liga, has made the final three.

All three candidates have been named among the 50 players to make the team of the year shortlist, while 28-year-old Messi is also nominated in the Puskas Award for the year’s best goal.

Messi has scored 48 goals so far in 2015, despite being injured for two months.

Portugal captain Ronaldo (30) has also scored 48 times for club and country, but Real are six points adrift of Barca in La Liga.

The other award categories are women’s world player of the year and men’s football world coach of the year.

USA’s Carli Lloyd, Japan’s Aya Miyama and Germany’s Celia Sasic will vie to be named women’s world player of the year.

Luis Enrique heads the coach of the year shortlist after leading Barcelona to Champions League, La Liga and Spanish Cup triumphs.

His two rivals are Pep Guardiola, who led Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title, and Jorge Sampaoli, under whose guidance Chile won their first Copa America title this summer.

Elsewhere, a total of 55 players have been listed as nominees for the FIFA FIFPro World Team of the year and 10 of them play in the English Premier League.

Wayne Rooney is one of them, despite criticism of his form for Manchester United while John Terry is the only other Englishman.

David de Gea, Branislav Ivanovic, Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez are the others while Real Madrid’s Wales international Gareth Bale is also listed.

Fleetwood Town’s David Ball has seen his goal against Preston in March fail to make the final three-man shortlist for the Puskas Award, having made the initial long list of 10. — Sky Sports.