As 2012 starts to wind down, the conversation for the Ballon D'Or has commenced. On October 30, a shortlist of 23 players will be placed into contention for the prestigious award handed out to the greatest player in the world. While many would like to throw in players like Iker Casillas and Andres Iniesta into the conversation for their incredible years, there are only two players in contention for this award: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And in light of Sunday's Clasico the choice between the two is even more difficult.
The FIFA Ballon D'Or is a relatively new award that was created in 2010 when the French Ballon D'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year Award were merged as one. Both of those awards were given to the consensus best player in the world. Lionel Messi won one French Ballon D'Or and FIFA Player of the Year Award in 2009, but has been the only player to win the FIFA Ballon D'Or in 2010 and 2011. The other two previous awards were never won more than three times and a victory at the end of the year would have Messi win that award for the third straight year. More importantly, a win of the FIFA Ballon D'Or would make him the first man to be crowned as Best Player in the World for four years in a row. Only Michel Platini has come close with three straight years as the Ballon D'Or winner. The Frenchman won the French Ballon D'Or in 1983, 1984, and 1985. A number of other players have won the Ballon D'Or 3 times, but never four times, much less four straight years.
Messi has been brilliant in 2012. Messi has scored 73 goals in 60 games for Barcelona in the 2011-12 season and has continued his solid play with 12 goals in 11 games to start the 2012-13 season. On March 20, he scored his 233rd goal for Barcelona and became the club's all-time leading scorer. He also scored a record five goals in one game at the UCL against Bayer Leverkusen in March and finished with a record 14 goals in the tournament.
On the other side of the equation is Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo who has only been recognized as the best player in the world one time in his career. In 2008 he won both the FIFA Player of the Year Award and the French Ballon D'Or as a member of Manchester United. He was the runner-up for the FIFA Ballon D'Or in 2011 with 21.60 percent of the vote.
Ronaldo's 2012 has not been too shabby either. He finished the 2011-12 season with 46 goals and added 10 UCL goals as well. He has started the 2012-13 season with 14 goals in 11 games. However, Ronaldo has had a great deal more success in terms of winning tournaments. He led Real Madrid to its first La Liga Championship since the 2007-08 season and while his club lost the Copa Del Rey, they defeated Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup. The fact that Ronaldo helped his squad end Barcelona's historic run of three straight La Liga Championships is a major accomplishment for the superstar. Ronaldo also had a heroic performance run at the Euro Cup 2012 when he single-handedly eliminated the Netherlands from the group stage and helped Portugal reach the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champion Spain.
Many pundits estimated that Sunday's Clasico could be a deciding factor but both players scored two goals in a match that was defined by their prowess.
The contenders are officially announced on October 30 and the winner will be awarded on January 7th. No one knows who else will be on the ballot, but one thing is for sure: Messi and Ronaldo are the only true contenders for this year's award.