Rooney Leads Premier League Ballon d'Or Contingent

Manchester City trio Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure and Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie are the five Premier League nominees for the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or.

City skipper Vincent Kompany is omitted, despite claiming the PFA Players' Player of the Year prize, for an award which is expected to be dominated by Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.

Didier Drogba, who helped Chelsea claim the European Cup in May with a penalty shoot-out victory over Bayern Munich, is included having moved to Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua, as is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who joined Paris St Germain from AC Milan in the summer.

Spain, the summer's European Championship victors, have seven players on the list, including captain Iker Casillas and player of the tournament Andres Iniesta.

Brazilian Neymar is the only player not to have played in Europe to be included on the 23-man shortlist, which will be reduced to three on 29 November before the winner is announced on 7 January.

In the manager's award, Chelsea boss Roberto di Matteo, who claimed the Champions League and FA Cup during his interim spell in charge and has guided the club to the top of the Premier League in the 2012/13 campaign, heads the 10-man list.

Manchester pair Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson are both included, as is Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho, who broke Barcelona's stranglehold on the La Liga title, and Jurgen Klopp who won a second successive Bundesliga title with Borussia Dortmund.

Ballon d'Or 23-man shortlist:

Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Manchester City), Mario Balotelli (Italy, Manchester City), Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus), Sergio Busquets (Spain, FC Barcelona), Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea and Shanghai Shenhua), Radamel Falcao (Colombia Atletico Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden AC Milan, and Paris-SG), Andrés Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina FC Barcelona), Manuel Neuer (Germany, Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil, Santos), Mesut Özil (Germany, Real Madrid), Gerard Piqué (Spain FC Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Italy, Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast Manchester City), Robin van Persie (Holland, Arsenal and Manchester United), Xabi Alonso (Spain Real Madrid), Xavi Hernandez (Spain, FC Barcelona)

Ballon d'Or 10-man manager's shortlist:

Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Roberto di Matteo (Chelsea), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (Barcelona), Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund), Joachim Loew (Germany), Roberto Mancini (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid), Cesare Prandelli (Italy)