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Three PSG players in the hat for 2013 Ballon d’Or

Ben McPartland
Ben McPartland - [email protected]
Three PSG players in the hat for 2013 Ballon d’Or
Photo: AFP

French magazine France Football published on Tuesday the names of 23 footballers, including three PSG players, who are in the running for the prestigious 2013 Ballon d’Or award for the best footballer in the world. But who deserves the gong the most?

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic is there, Cristiano Ronaldo is there and Gareth Bale is there too and so too of course, is the four-time winner Lionel Messi.

These four players were among the names released by French football magazine France Football on Tuesday who are in the running for the 2013 Ballon d’Or award.

In a sign of the growing power of French football, or at least the dominance of two clubs, the French Ligue 1 is represented by four players, most notably PSG striker Ibrahimovic. Last year only one Ligue 1 made it on to the shortlist.

He is joined on the list by PSG's Brazilian defender Thiago Silva and the Paris club's Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani. Monaco’s Radamel Falcao is the fourth player who plies his trade in France to make the list. However the only Frenchman to make list is Bayern Munich's Franck Ribéry.

The list will be whittled down to three names on December 9th with the winner being announced on January 13th in Zurich.

The full list of 23 players is as follows:

Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)
Edinson Cavani (Paris-SG)
Radamel Falcao (Monaco)
Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris-SG)
Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
Neymar (Barcelona)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
Mesut Özil (Arsenal)
Andrea Pirlo (Juventus Turin)
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)
Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
Luis Suarez (Liverpool)
Thiago Silva (Paris-SG)
Yaya Touré (Manchester City)
Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
Xavi (Barcelona)

A ten-name shortlist for the coach of the year award was also released on Tuesday. The list is as follows:

Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid/ex-Paris St Germain), Rafael Benitez (Napoli/ex-Chelsea), Antonio Conte (Juventus), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (ex-Manchester United), Jupp Heynckes (ex-Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea/ex-Real Madrid), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).

Should Zlatan Ibrahimovic win the Ballon d'Or?

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