Ballon D'Or Finalists: Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta

The trio of finalists

FIFA have finally announced the three players which will be competing for this year's Ballon d'Or! While I have always believed that Wesley Sneijder would win this award, it seems like FIFA has decided that the Dutch player shouldn't even be amongst the finalists.

It's nice to see that FIFA have finally given recognition to Xavi and Iniesta, two very underrated players which create ridiculous amounts of goals for their club and country. It's almost unfair that FIFA can only choose one of them, especially considering that watching the two have such a deep connection and pass the ball around so beautifully.

Something else to take into consideration is that all three finalists all play for Barcelona, and two of them are Spanish, so the question arises: maybe it's La Liga which is the best league in the world right now? While I can't give a definitive answer, I'm inclined to say that La Liga has two fantastic teams, while the Premier League has an exciting mix of sides which are all of very high quality.

And what about Lionel Messi? The Argentine has a chance to win his second Ballon D'Or in a row, and he's only 23! Can Messi now be considered the greatest player of our generation?

There are so many questions with this announcement, and so few answers. One big one will arrive on January 10th when FIFA announce this year's winner of the award. Will it be Xavi? Iniesta? Or Messi? Michel Platini says that Xavi should win it, and I agree with the UEFA president, the question is, do you? Comment below!