When the announcement was made that that Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, and Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez made up a 23-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for 2013, it was no surprise to many football followers.

Arguably, the three have been outstanding over the years but the award seem to have lost .

Several outstanding football players have won the world best players award over the years.

Name them: German legends, Karl Heinz Rummenigge, Franz Beckenbauer, George Best (scotland), Oleg Blohkin (Russia), Luis Suarez (Spain), Johan Cruyff (Holland), Alfredo di stefano (Spain), Furanc Puskas (Hungry).

Others that have won it in the recent past include Ronaldinho, Ronaldo da Lima and Kaka, all of Brazil, Zinedine Zidane of France, Fabio Canavaro of Italy and of late Ronaldo of Portugal and Leonel Messi of Argentina.

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