Ballon D'or?

The Ballon D'or literally means 'Golden Ball'. Its inception was in the year 1956. The award was conceived by France Football's chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, who asked his colleagues to vote for the player of the year in Europe in 1956. Hence at that time this award was only presented to European players playing for a European club and hence players of Non-European nations were ineligible for this award. This however was changed in the year 1995 when it allowed non-European players to be eligible for the award if they played for a European club. While later in the year 2007 any player in the world became eligible for this award. Another noticeable thing is that the selection is done by football journalists

The first person to win the Ballon D'or was an English footballer Stanley Matthews who played for Blackpool. After the rule change in the year which allowed Non-European players to be eligible, it was a Liberian player George Weah who won the Ballon D'or while playing for AC Milan. Three players have won the award three times each - Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten. The last Premier League player to win the FIFA Ballon D'or was Michael Owen

Later in the year 2010, Ballon D'or and FIFA player of the year were merged, and came to be known as the FIFA Ballon D'or. Leo Messi became the inaugural winner and won it again in the following year. The FIFA Ballon D'or for 2012 is scheduled for January 7th, 2013 in Kongresshaus, Zurich (Switzerland)

Like every year, 23 player shortlist is made. The shortlist for the 2012 FIFA Ballon D'or includes -

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/Argentina), 

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid/Spain), 

Mario Balotelli (Manchester City/Italy), 

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/France), 

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus/Italy),

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona/Spain), 

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid/Spain), 

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal), 

Didier Drogba (Shanghai Shenhua/Ivory Coast), 

Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid/Colombia), 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain/Sweden), 

Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain), 

Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina), 

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich/Germany), 

Neymar (Santos/Brazil), 

Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid/Germany), 

Gerard Pique (Barcelona/Spain), 

Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/Italy), 

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain), 

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United/England), 

Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast), 

Robin van Persie (Manchester United/Netherlands), 

Xavi (Barcelona/Spain)

Neymar and Drogba are the only players playing for a Non-European club in the shortlist, while Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba the only Africans that make the shortlist. Gianluigi Buffon and Manuel Neuer are the only goalkeepers that make the shortlist. Rooney, the only player representing England, while the same applies to Van Persie win Nederlands
So, what do you make of this?