FIFA named the three candidates for the Golden Ball
Neymar joined Messi and Ronaldo
The final three of candidates for Ballon d’Or now comprises of Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Barcelona’s forwards, Lionel Messi and Neymar, FIFA’s official website reported.
The best coach award will go to one of the following three: Josep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Luiz Enrique (Barcelona) and Jorge Sampaoli (Chile’s national team).
In mid-November, Ukraine’s coach Mykhailo Fomenko and captain of the squad Anatoliy Tymoshchuk voted for their candidates. Both bet on Messi, and both gave second place to Ronaldo. As for the third place, Fomenko supported Luiz Suarez from Barcelona, while Tymoshchuk voted for Thomas Muller from Bayern. Voting for the best coach of the year, Tymoshchuk supported Luiz Enrique (Barcelona), Josep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) and Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid). Fomenko voted for Carlo Ancelotti, former coach of Real Madrid, Laurent Blanc (PSG) and Simeone as well.
The 2014 Ballon d’Or went to Cristiano Ronaldo who took over Messi as well as Bayern’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. The best coach award went to Joachim Low, who trained Germany, the triumphants of FIFA World Cup 2014.
Ronaldo previously won the Golden Ball in 2008 and 2013. Lionel Messi possessed the award in 2009-2012 consecutively.