Ballon d’Or shortlist: C. Ronaldo still the favourite with Yaya Toure the only African on the list

Five Barclays Premier League stars and one African – Yaya Toure – have been named on FIFA’s 23-man shortlist for the 2014 Ballon d’Or.

Current holder Cristiano Ronaldo and four-time winner Lionel Messi are again the favourites but there is no place on the shortlist for former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who was banned for four months in July for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

Six members of Germany’s World Cup-winning squad have been nominated, making them the most represented country on the list.

The five players based in England on the shortlist are Chelsea trio Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois, Manchester City’s Yaya Toure and Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria.

BALLON D’OR SHORTLIST 

Gareth Bale (Wales)

Karim Benzema (France)

Diego Costa (Spain)

Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Angel Di Maria (Argentina)

Mario Gotze (Germany)

Eden Hazard (Belgium)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)

Andres Iniesta (Spain)

Toni Kroos (Germany)

Philipp Lahm (Germany)

Javier Mascherano (Argentina)

Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Thomas Muller (Germany)

Manuel Neuer (Germany)

Neymar (Brazil)

Paul Pogba (France)

Sergio Ramos (Spain)

Arjen Robben (Holland)

James Rodriguez (Colombia)

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)

Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)

Who’s your favourite to win it this year? Tell us in the comment.