Wesley Sneijder is leading the race to be the winner of the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or after the latest odds were revealed by Titan Bet.

Inter's star Dutchman, who won the treble last season and scored five goals in the World Cup, is priced at evens (2.0) to scoop the crown currently held by Lionel Messi.




The Barcelona and Argentina player was considered the favourite to retain his crown after a sparkling goal laden season with the Blaugrana. However, a disappointing World Cup has seen Messi's odds move out to 15.0.

He remains a very strong contender with his new attractive odds already enticing punters. Goal.com's betting and odds expert David Mole says you should look around for value in this contest.

"Betting on markets like this can be difficult as it's not as clear cut as betting on a game where you can watch the action unfold. You have to get into the minds of the selectors and try and see who has impressed on a world wide scale. Sneijder offers little value at even money and he may not be nailed on, having lost out in the final.

"It would have been difficult to turn down a quadruple winner but it will be easier to turn down one of the thugs who turned up in the final My tip would be to look elsewhere for value, especially around Forlan, Messi and Villa."




Unsurprisingly the top ten contenders is dominated by Barcelona with the La Liga champions supplying four contenders. Along with Messi Spain's World Cup winners Xavi (2.40), Andres Iniesta (3.0) and David Villa (13.0) are also in contention for the prize.

Spain's top flight supplies six of the top ten including the Barca quartet, Diego Forlan (11.0) of Atletico Madrid and Iker Casillas (21.0) of Real Madrid. Serie A is represented by Sneijder and his Inter team-mate Diego Milito (21.0) and the Bundesliga have Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben (8.0) and Thomas Mueller (12.0) competing for the newly named FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Not a single Premier League player features in the top ten with Wayne Rooney to closest contender at 29.0. 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo is currently priced at 26.0.

Iker Casillas is the long shot at 21.0 and will be the first goalkeeper since Lev Yashin in 1963 to win the prize if he succeeds. Casillas may be worth a punt as the last three winners in World Cup years have come from the winning country (Fabio Cannavaro 2006, Ronaldo 2002, Zinedine Zidane 1998).

FIFA have revamped the prize merging their own player of the year award with the long established Ballon d'Or which began in 1956.

The first winner will receive the prize on January 10th 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=goal-wesleysneijderleadingtherac