The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has revealed the list of shortlisted candidates for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or award and for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football award.
The list was drawn up by football experts from the Football Committee, the Technical and Development Committee and by a group of experts from France Football.
The following 23 men are contending for the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2011Éric 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). The following ten coaches are contending for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football 2011: Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team),
Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC),
Rudi Garcia (France/Lille OSC),
Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Barcelona),
Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), Joachim Löw (Germany/Germany national team),
José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid C.F.), Óscar Tabárez (Uruguay/Uruguay national team),
André Villas-Boas (Portugal/FC Porto, Chelsea FC),
Arsène Wenger (France/Arsenal FC)FIFA and France Football will on 5th December, 2011 hold a press conference in Paris, however, names of the three men and three women, as well as the three men's coaches and three women's coaches, with the highest number of votes will be revealed. The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award will also be announced. The winners of all of the awards will be revealed at the second FIFA Ballon d'Or gala as part of a televised ceremony at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 9 January 2012.
The FIFA/FIFPro World XI and the FIFA Puskás Award for the most beautiful goal of the year, the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented during the gala.