Lionel Messi, Xavi and Cristiano Ronaldo up for Fifa Ballon d'Or

     The contenders for this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or Award for the best player of 2011 were announced today at a press conference held at the headquarters of France Football magazine in Paris .Lionel Messi(Argentina), Xavi (spain)and Cristiano Ronaldo(portugal)  are the contenders for this year's Ballon d'Or Award
  
     Messi who won the inaugural award last year after Fifa's world player of the year crown and France Football's Ballon d'Or prize merged is once again the favourite after another stunning season at Barcelona in which he scored 53 goals.
      Alex Ferguson (Scotland), Josep Guardiola (Spain) and José Mourinho (Portugal) were also nominated for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award.


   All the awards will be presented at the FIFA Ballon d’Or, which will be held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, FIFA’s home city, on 9 January 2012. 
  The gala, formerly known as the “FIFA World Player of the Year Gala”, has been in existence since 1991. Last year it underwent a significant change when it merged with France Football’s Ballon d’Or award to form the new “FIFA Ballon d’Or”.