List of nominees for the 2012 Fifa Ballon d’Or released-Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba are the only Africans picked

Ivorians Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba are the only Africans on the list of nominees for the 2012 Fifa Ballon d’Or released yesterday by the governing body of world football.

Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba are the only nominees from Africa to compete for the Ballon d’Or.

This will be on the 7th January that the successor to Lionel Messi for the Fifa Ballon d’Or 2012 will be known in Zurich. But once again, the Argentine striker of FC Barcelona is neck-to-neck with the Portuguese of Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo. The forward of the Catalan club and striker of Madrid are, in fact, the favorites in the list of 23 contenders made public yesterday by the Federation International Football Association (FIFA). A list dominated by European champions Spain totalling seven representatives and in which are only two Africans.

They are the Ivorians Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba. The first, winner of the Champions League with Chelsea while the second was champion of England with Manchester City. Also note the strong presence of players from the Spanish league (12 players), but it is Real Madrid with seven representatives who leads the dance, followed by FC Barcelona in total five whose hyper favorite Lionel Messi triple winner of the Ballon d’Or and the author of an outstanding year on a personal level but without a major title.

Author of 50 goals last season, the Argentine prodigy receive the Golden Shoe Monday, the second of his career, which is awarded each season’s top scorer of all European leagues combined. With 100 points, the “Pulga” ahead of his nemesis, Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 46 goals in La Liga last season.

The list of 23 selected for the Ballon d’Or

Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Mario Balotelli (Italy), Karim Benzema (France), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Sergio Busquets (Spain), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Gerard Pique (Spain), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Wayne Rooney (England), Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast), Robin van Persie (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain).