Last week the men's shortlist from FIFA Ballon d'Or 2013 was released with 23 of the best footballers in
the world. As always Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the favorites to win, but here at Great Dane Football Blog there is only one true winner this year.

The shortlist contains 23 male candidates, which have been, drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from France Football and looks as follows:

Gareth Bale (Wales), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Ramadel Falcao (Colombia), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribéry (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Yaya Touré (Côte d'Ivoire), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain) and finally, Great Danes true winner, Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Sweden.

The list is full of world class players, however, in my oppinion Zlatan is the right winner this year. True Gareth Bale, Edinson Cavani and Ramadel Falcao was class in their previous clubs but after their summer transfers they haven't really lived up to the past. True Phillipp Lahm, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger won the Champions League. True Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi keeps scoring in Spain, and Neymar became on of the worlds most expensive players. But, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had an amazing career and deserves to be rewarded for it. In every club the Swede have played for he has won a trophy; 2 Eredivise, 1 KNVB Cup and 1 Johan Cruijff shield with Ajaz, 2 Serie A titles with Juventus, 3 Serie A titles and 2 Supercoppa Italia with Inter Milan, 1 La Liga, 2 Supercopa de España, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup with Barcelona, 1 Serie A and 1 Supercoppa with AC Milan, and so far 1 Ligue 1 and 1 Trophée des Champions with PSG. 

And if that isn't enough, Zlatan scored 16 goals for Barcelona where he had the worst period of his career. Despite his age of 32, Super Zlatan keeps entertaining us with world class goals week after week, and he really deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year! Why? Because Zlatan makes football beautiful! Nicklas Bendtner once said that he aims to be as good as Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Well, there is a long way to go Bendtner! Especially because Zlatan despite his age may have at least four years left on the highest level and I believe we can expect to see more from the big Swede. Until then, celebrate him with the best price a football can get!