Battle of the Best: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi lead Ballon d'Or shortlist; Yaya Toure the only African listed

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi lead the 23-men shortlist for the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or award.

Messi who has won the Ballon d'Or award four times already is now at the verge of winning it a fifth time.

The list has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from  France Football .Out of the 23 candidates six come from Bayern Munich and six from Real Madrid. It also includes six German World Cup winners. Here are all (in alphabetical order) candidates: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid, Wales)Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)Diego Costa (Chelsea, Spain)Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea, Belgium)Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)Angel Di Maria (Manchester United, Argentina)Mario Goetze (Bayern Munich, Germany)Eden Hazard (Chelsea, Belgium)Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain, Sweden)Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona, Spain)Toni Kroos (Real Madrid, Germany)Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany)Javier Mascherano (Argentina)Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, Argentina)Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich, Germany)Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich, Germany)Neymar (FC Barcelona, Brazil)Paul Pogba (Juventus, France)Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain)Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, Netherlands)James Rodriguez (Real Madrid, Colombia)Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich, Germany)Yaya Toure (Manchester City, Côte d'Ivoire).On 01 December, FIFA and France Football will announce the final three candidates who have received the most votes up to this point.The winner will be announced on 12 January at a gala in Zurich.