Gareth Bale joined by Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City stars on Ballon d'Or shortlist

Bale, Hazard and Sanchez have all been nominated for the Ballon d'Or award

GARETH BALE is the only British player to feature in the 23-man Ballon d'Or shortlist for the third year running while the Premier League has five nominees.

 

The Wales winger is one of 11 Liga players included having stared for Real Madrid and his country this year.

 

Manchester City trio Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Yaya Toure have been shortlisted alongside Chelsea winger Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez, who backed up his Arsenal form by helping his country Chile to Copa America success in 2015.

But it's Real Madrid and Barcelona who dominate again - the Spanish duo boasting a combined 10.

Bale is joined by Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kross and James Rodriguez while Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Javier Mascherano, Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic are in from Barca.

Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho are both on a 10-man shortlist for the coach of the year award, alongside Barcelona's Champions League-winning coach Luis Enrique and Bayern Munich's Pep Guardiola.

Sergio Aguero has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or



Yaya Toure is the only African player to be nominated

Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli is the only national team coach on the list, which also includes Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, Sevilla's Unai Emery, Laurent Blanc of PSG, Atletico Madrid chief Diego Simeone and Carlo Ancelotti, who left Real Madrid in the summer.

England women's coach Mark Sampson is on the coach of the year for women's football shortlist, alongside Englishmen Colin Bell (Frankfurt) and John Herdman (Canada), but there are no British footballers on the women's player of the year list.



Mark Sampson led England to bronze in Canada

 

BALLON D'OR SHORTLIST 

Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Manchester City), Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris St Germain), Andres Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany/Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/Barcelona), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/Barcelona), Arjen Robben (Holland/Bayern Munich), James Rodriguez (Colombia/Real Madrid), Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/Barcelona), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast/Manchester City), Arturo Vidal (Chile/Bayern Munich).

COACH OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST

Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Carlo Ancelotti (Formerly of Real Madrid), Laurent Blanc (Paris St Germain), Unai Emery (Sevilla), Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Luis Enrique (Barcelona), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Jorge Sampaoli (Chile), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).