Chelsea's Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Manchester United's Angel Di Maria Nominated For FIFA Ballon d'Or, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez Out

Chelsea's Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Manchester United's Angel Di Maria are all contenders for the Ballon d'Or award but Barcelona's former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is out of the list of FIFA's 23-man list. Apparently, the division's leading scorer from last season did not make to the list, which will be whittled down to the world's best player.

Last season, Suarez scored 31 goals for Liverpool but his season ended in controversy when he bit Giorgio Chiellini of Italy, while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Following the incident, the 27-year-old was awarded a four-month ban by FIFA, which was eventually ended when he joined Barcelona. In 2013, Suarez also bit Chelsea's defender Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match at Anfield.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and incumbent Ballon d'Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo made it to the list and it appears that with Ronaldo's stunning form in 2014, he is clearly the favourite. In season, Ronaldo made a total of 21 goals in 14 appearances thus far and in May, he led Real Madrid to the Champions League title. Real Madrid's forward Gareth Bale made it to the list and six players from the World Cup winner Germany. On December 1, the Ballon d'Or will be chosen and announced on January 12.

FIFA Ballon d'Or 2014 Nominees

Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema (France), Diego Costa (Spain), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Mario Goetze (Germany), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Mueller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Yaya Toure (Côte d'Ivoire).

FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football 2014 Nominees

Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Real Madrid CF), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus FC/Italy national team), Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Bayern Munich), Juergen Klinsmann (Germany/ USA national team), Joachim Loew (Germany/Germany national team), Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Chelsea FC), Manuel Pellegrini (Chile/Manchester City FC), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina/Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atletico Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Netherlands/Netherlands national team/Manchester United FC).