Who could win the Ballon d'Or?

Could James Rodriguez win off the back of a strong World Cup?

The nominees for this year's Ballon d'Or are out, so who leads the way in the player of the year and coach of the year categories?

There are only five leagues represented on the player of the year shortlist, with the 23 players all coming from La Liga, the Bundesliga, the Premier League, Ligue 1 and Serie A. There are no English players on there, while Real Madrid and Bayern Munich both have six players on the shortlist.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the overwhelming favourite with the bookmakers to win the prize and that is understandable given the incredible 12 months he has enjoyed with Real Madrid. The current holder of the Ballon d'Or looks on course to make it a hat-trick of awards - after wins last year and in 2008.

Ronaldo was La Liga's leading scorer last season and helped guide Madrid to the Champions League title. And since the start of this season, he simply cannot stop scoring. He scored 18 goals in Madrid's first 11 La Liga games and is also currently one away from equalling Raul's Champions League goalscoring record.

The one thing that goes against Ronaldo is his disappointment at the World Cup, where Portugal failed to get out of the group stage. That fact plays into the hands of some of his rivals in the Ballon d'Or running.

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Lionel Messi scored four goals in Brazil to lead Argentina into the World Cup final. He was awarded the Golden Ball award for the best player of the tournament, however FIFA President Sepp Blatter has since come out to state he believed that decision was a mistake.

Domestically, his incredible goalscoring record continues and the Barcelona man has 250 La Liga goals to his name, just one short of Telmo Zarra's all-time record of 251. Messi has also just equalled Raul in the all-time Champions League goalscoring record, getting his 70th and 71st goals in the 2-0 win over Ajax last week.

The history books show that World Cup winners traditionally pick up the award in a tournament year, which means that some of the standout performers for Germany in Brazil are likely to be in contention this time around. The likes of Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer should be there or thereabouts when the winner is announced.

The top German contender could be goalkeeper Neuer after a huge number of fantastic displays for both Bayern Munich and Germany. However, goalkeeper is not the most glamorous of positions and it fails to really create the impressive stats that could see Neuer rival Ronaldo or Messi. It's a sad truth that clean sheets simply don't generate the same excitement as breaking goalscoring records.

An interesting outsider for the Ballon d'Or could be James Rodriguez. He inspired Colombia in Brazil and was the top scorer at the World Cup with six goals. Those World Cup performances earned Rodriguez a 60milliom-plus move to Real Madrid in the summer and he has made a fantastic start to his career at the club. Rodriguez might not be the finished article yet but he is showing the true potential he has and, if not this year, he could well be pushing the likes of Ronaldo and Messi in years to come.

The shortlist for the Ballon d'Or coach of the year has also been unveiled and it is likely to be a three-way battle. Carlo Ancelotti and Joachim Low are the front-runners for winning the Champions League and World Cup respectively. However, Diego Simeone is a dark horse after turning Atletico Madrid into a strong unit and leading them to La Liga glory and the Champions League final.