FIFA have announced their shortlists for this year's illustrious Ballon d'Or, World Coach of the Year and other annual awards to be handed to the year's inspirational sporting heroes.

The winners of which will be announced on January 10, 2011 in Zurich. The gala will include for the second time the FIFA Puskas award for the most beautiful goal and the FIFA Fair Play award among a host of other team and individual accolades.

The eagerly anticipated World Player of the Year list has been dominated by those who shone in South Africa over the summer, enlightening the world during the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Holders Spain and semi-finalists Germany make up most of the 23-man list.

strongThe contenders are:/strong
table border=0
tbody
tr
tdstrongXabi Alonso /strong
(Spain)/td
td/td
tdstrongDani Alves /strong
(Brazil)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongIker Casillas /strong
(Spain)/td
td/td
tdstrongCristiano Ronaldo /strong
(Portugal)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongDidier Drogba /strong
(Ivory Coast)/td
td/td
tdstrongSamuel Eto'o /strong
(Cameroon)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongCesc Fabregas /strong
(Spain)/td
td/td
tdstrongAsamoah Gyan /strong
(Ghana)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongJulio Cesar /strong
(Brazil)/td
td/td
tdstrongMiroslav Klose /strong
(Germany)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongPhilipp Lahm /strong
(Germany)/td
td/td
tdstrongMaicon /strong
(Brazil)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongThomas Mueller /strong
(Germany)/td
td/td
tdstrongArjen Robben /strong
(Netherlands)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongBastian Schweinsteiger /strong
(Germany)/td
td/td
tdstrongDavid Villa /strong
(Spain)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongXavi /strong
(Spain)/td
td/td
tdstrongCarles Puyol /strong
(Spain)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongAndres /strongstrongIniesta /strong
(Spain)/td
td/td
tdstrongDiego Forlan /strong
(Uruguay)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongLionel Messi /strong
(Argentina)/td
td/td
tdstrongMesut Oezil /strong
(Germany)/td
/tr
tr
tdstrongWesley Sneijder /strong
(Netherlands)/td
td/td
td/td
/tr
/tbody
/table