FIFA have announced their 23-man shortlist for the 2012 Ballon D’Or.

Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Manchester City)

Mario Balotelli (Italy, Manchester City)

Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid)

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus)

Sergio Busquets (Spain, FC Barcelona)

Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid)

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea and Shanghai Shenhua)

Radamel Falcao (Colombia Atletico Madrid)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden AC Milan, and Paris-SG)

Andrés Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona)

Lionel Messi (Argentina FC Barcelona)

Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich)

Neymar (Brazil, Santos)

Mesut Özil (Germany, Real Madrid)

Gerard Piqué (Spain FC Barcelona)

Andrea Pirlo (Italy, Juventus)

Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal Real Madrid)

Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United)

Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast Manchester City)

Robin van Persie (Holland, Arsenal and Manchester United)

Xabi Alonso (Spain Real Madrid)

Xavi Hernandez (Spain, FC Barcelona)

Who is Deserving

Fifa will also Prefer Iniesta on Ronaldo and Messi

Thats my thinking

Falcao or Messi

Falcao, Drogba, Messi, Ronaldo, or Ineista.

me with Drogba

Falcao, Drogba or Iniesta

1. messi
2. ronaldo
3. falcao

They gieve this list but ot's obvious who the top contenders are:

1. Messi
2. Ronaldo
3. Iniesta
4. Xavi

Messi,Iniesta,Drogba,Ronaldo..
Never Understood why Pique,Benzema,Iker,Balotelli,Neymar are in the list...

1. Ronaldo
2. Messi
3. Falcao

@ DonAndres

I partially agree and disagree. Pique has not had a good season last year, and Balotelli definitely does not have good attitude towards anything in particular. FIFA made it clear that they were only going to give prizes to those who deserved it, and honestly, Balotelli needs to improve his attitude if he wants to truly earn something.

Benzema has had a fantastic season. He improved much from two years ago, when Mourinho was almost reluctant to sell him. Iker Casillas still holds his position as the world's best goalkeeper, and it's only honorable and right to nominate him. Neymar proved himself very worthy. He led Brazil U21 to the finals of the Olympics. I'd say that he more than deserves to be on the shortlist.

But the three people I'd say that deserve the Ballon d'Or are:

1. Andrea Pirlo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Cristiano Ronaldo

Seriously, these three worked their asses off, but obviously the Ballon d'Or is only going to be given to the "best" player, not the one that pulled the strings to his team's victories and led them to the finals of the EURO 2012. We all know that Messi's gonna come first, Ronaldo second, and Iniesta third.

If it was up to me, I'd dedicate the Ballon d'Or to the player who worked his ass off this year and led his team to great heights.

Let's face it. 

Messi : Went completely ballistic last year with breaking records, but didn't win the league or Champions League with Barcelona, which is disappointing in his part since he tried so hard, but there's really nothing you can do about it.

Ronaldo : Did great with Madrid to win the league, but wasn't so well with Portugal. Seemed to act as if he's frustratedly surrounded by teammates who do little to support him.

Andrea Pirlo : He is 33 years old, and managed to help his team win the league undefeated. Juve only lost one game last season, and that was in the Coppa Italia final, which he also led his team to. In the EURO cup, he would've easily been Player of the Tournament, but unfortunately his age decreased his stamina, and in the Final, he couldn't do much. But still, he led his teams to the summit 3 times, with teams who were both considered to be a dull threat and not as dangerous as they used to be.

@Dynastian98
Ok Benzema had a great Season.. he scored a lot of goals. But Mario Gomez had an amazing season also.. Do you see him in the list?
San Iker Is my favourite goalkeeper but i am trying to be as objective as i can..
Last year Cech,Neuer and of course that guy called Joe Hart were all awesome and had a better season than Iker...
Iker is AMAZING but he is getting old.. Is time for someone " to take" his position as the best.. Hart and Neuer have all the time to reach the top.. they are young enough..

@Dynastian98 

Ballon d'Or is an individual award so i think it has to do with what each of them won..
It is about the player who had better season..
Otherwise,Imagine Torres to win Ballon d'Or because he won Champions League, EURO 2012 and the FA Cup despite the fact he had a very bad season for a player of his class..
 

it hasn't to do with*

It's true that Hart and Neuer are top class (I'm a huge fan of Joe Hart), but they haven't quite had the success with their team yet to match Iker, and neither are they as consistent as Iker. That is what separates them. Iker is famous for not making a mistake since that Champions League final in the 90's, while I've seen Neuer make plenty of mistakes. I'm a REALLY big fan of Hart, and I think that he's EXTREMELY underrated, but we'll see. If you ask me, the two people who could overtake Iker are Joe Hart and David de Gea.

Hart saved Manchester City for being destroyed for Dortmund ( he saved over 10 goals really)!!also gotze hit the post 2 times :P .. imagine the scoreline..
As for de gea.. Nooo.. He isnt yet a class goalkeeper.. a class GK would never save a free kick with his foot(lolz).. If you watched David luiz free kick  against MUTD.. he saved it with his foot .. it is too risky.. every experienced goalkeeper would have stopped the ball with his hand.. But ok.. I think its time to end one more decision.. :P :P
 I also LOVE HART! :P :D .. he is amazing.. 

Everyone on is saying Falcao.... he won't get close too much competetition; if he played for Cheslea earlier it might have been a different story.

And De Gea is only 21, nt a class keeper yet.

I meant to say that De Gea has the potential to be the best one day. Casillas said it himself. And I do agree that he takes a few too many risks with his feet, but he saves Man United's ass plenty of times in-game. He makes this ridiculously hard saves that he doesn't get much credit for.

*these ridiculously hard saves

lol where is Ribery?