Five Real Madrid players have been included among the 23 candidates to win the Ballon d’Or award of 2015. Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos have been named to the shortlist revealed by FIFA and French magazine France Football.
The Ballon d’Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo will seek to claim his fourth price and draw level with Leo Messi, who is the favourite to win the award this year.
From the 59 preselected players, only two Los Blancos players have failed to make it in the final 23-men shortlist: Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos. Yet, Real Madrid is still the second club with more players in the list, only trailing Barcelona by one.
Voting period will start on October 26th. A group of football journalists and all the national teams’ captains and managers will decide who is the best player of the world in 2015. The voting will close on November 20th.
On November 30th, FIFA and France Football will announce the name of the three finalists. The winner will be announced at the event that will take place in Zurich on January 11th 2016.
These are the 23 candidates to win the 2015 Ballon d’Or:
Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Manchester City)
Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid)
Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/VfL Wolfsburg/Manchester City)
Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain)
Andres Iniesta (Spain/FC Barcelona)
Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid)
Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern Munich)
Javier Mascherano (Argentina/FC Barcelona)
Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona)
Thomas Muller (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)
Manuel Neuer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich)
Neymar (Brazil/FC Barcelona)
Paul Pogba (France/Juventus)
Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/FC Barcelona)
Arjen Robben (Netherlands/FC Bayern Munich)
James Rodriguez (Colombia/Real Madrid)
Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal)
Luis Suarez (Uruguay/FC Barcelona)
Yaya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire/Manchester City)
Arturo Vidal (Chile/Juventus/FC Bayern Munich)
