© EuroFootball.com
Spanish national team football players who became world champions this summer have been included in the expanded list of candidates to receive the "Ballon D'Or" award from FIFA.
The winner, to be determined by the voting of FIFA committees and experts from "France Football" magazine, will be announced on January 10, 2011.
Starting from this year, the FIFA "Ballon D'Or" award will be presented by combining the previous FIFA best player of the year and "France Football" organized "Ballon D'Or" nominee selections.
The list of candidates will be narrowed down to the top three players with the most votes on December 6.
List of 23 candidates:
Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), David Villa (Spain), and Xavi (Spain).
