From a list of 23 candidates FIFA has narrowed down the candidates leaving Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta  as finalist for FIFA’S world player of the year award (Ballon d’Or)

Ronaldo last won the award in 2008 before it merged with the FIFA World player of the year in 2010 and ever since, Messi has been the only winner and he could become the first player to win the award four times in a row. Although each finalist for this year’s award possess very strong argument in their favor, Messi is more likely to win as his records are outstanding. 

Even though it seems Andres Iniesta will most likely come in third place, his stats are still very impressive, Iniesta who plays for Barcelona played an  important role for both the Spanish national team and Barcelona. Iniesta registered a passing accuracy rate of 89.06% compared to the La Liga average of 82.51%. In this year's Champions League, Iniesta has found a team-mate with a superb 90% of his passes.

For Ronaldo, his biggest achievement this year was winning La Liga; also he has scored a total of 60 goals in all competition in the 2011/2012 season,  46 of which was for his team Real Madrid for which he also had 12 assists. The Portuguese star had an amazing season as his side also reached the last four of the Champions League before being knocked out by Bayern Munich.

However, 25-year-old Messi Messi, has scored 82 goals  in all completion which is just three short of the record set by Gerd Mueller in 1972. So far, he has scored 50 times for Barcelona and has had 16 assists and although Barcelona did not win La Liga, they won Copa Del Rey. 

From all indications, Messi could win the award for the 4^th successive time,  we will just have to wait and see.