Leo Messi named on three-man shortlist for FIFA Ballon d’Or 2014

The Argentine will be up against Cristiano Ronaldo and Manuel Neuer for the award

Winner to be announced on the 12th of January

Leo Messi has been named amongst the short list of three candidates for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2014. The other two contenders are Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer. The organizers of the award made public this Monday the final three names selected from an original list of 23 candidates which also included Messi’s team mates Javier Mascherano, Andrés Iniesta and Neymar. The winner of the Ballon d’Or will be announced at an event on Monday the 12th of January.

In 2014 Leo Messi was runner up in the league and in the Cup with Barça and also reached the final of the World Cup with Argentina. The man from Rosario was captain of the national side during the tournament in Brazil and guided the albiceleste to their first final in 24 years. Despite the 1-0 defeat against Germany, Messi was named Player of the Tournament.

Messi already holds record

Leo Messi already holds the record for winning the award on more occasions than any other player in history. The Ballon d’Or, a prize organized by France Football magazine in collaboration with FIFA, has been awarded to the Argentine on four separate occasions:  2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In fact the Barça striker has been named amongst the final three every year since 2007, making this year his eighth consecutive appearance amongst the three best players in the world.

The Barça number 10 has been in the news for other achievements in the last few weeks having recently become the all-time leading goal scorer in la Liga and in the Champions League.

Source:Barcelona FC web site

M.D