Who should win FIFA's 2014 keeper award, Neuer or Courtois?

Manuel Neuer is likely to be named the top keeper again

There are two glovemen on the 23-man shortlist for the 2015 Ballon d'Or, a straight duel between Manuel Neuer and Thibaut Courtois seems likely but who should win?

Officially there are five contenders for the number one shirt in the Fifa FifPro World XI that will be announced on January 12 - once the votes of captains and coaches of over 200 recognised associations have been counted.

Neuer and Courtois are joined by Claudio Bravo, Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas - all five having played significant roles for their nations at the World Cup with vastly-different outcomes.

But it looks to be a choice between two outstanding candidates based on the form displayed by the German and Belgian stoppers over the past 12 months.

And any conjecture could be rendered meaningless if, on December 1, either of the elite duo is promoted to the final three-player shortlist for the Ballon d'Or Gala ceremony in the New Year.

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However, only one goalkeeper has finished in the top three of voting in the past ten years (Buffon 2006) and it seems highly likely that the main honour will go to an outfield player.

Neuer currently holds the gloves, having succeeded Casillas (the 2008-2012 incumbent) in last year's Fifa Fifpro World XI.

And that looks like it may have been a changing of the guard as the world has finally found a player who, it can be argued, has genuinely changed the definition of the modern goalkeeper's role.

Neuer has helped transform the way goalkeepers play and is now the archetypal 'Sweeper Keeper' - performing a role that allows modern coaches to push their backlines higher up the pitch toward half-way to deny the opposition space and press them in their own defensive third.

His two head coaches, Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich and Die Mannschaft's Joachim Low, deploy extremely high backlines and Neuer's style is perfectly suited to it. And although he only ever faces a few shots on goal each game, his concentration levels must never drop.

In 2014, Neuer didn't only lift the World Cup but also the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal. He reached the Champions League semi-finals and was named Germany's Footballer of the Year for the second time. He finished second behind current Ballon d'Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo in Uefa Best Player award.

At Brazil 2014, he shone on the biggest stage of all - putting in memorable performances against France and Algeria in the knockout stages and, although he wasn't tested by Argentina in the final, picking up the Golden Glove award for the tournament's best goalkeeper

Courtois' achievements, although still memorable, suffer by comparison and he didn't even win Spain's Goalkeeper of the Season award in 2013/2014 - finishing third behind Keylor Navas and Willy Caballero.

The Belgian did take the prestigious Trofeo Zamora for the second season running for having the lowest goals conceded/games ratio at Atletico Madrid.

His club had an incredible campaign for which Courtois must also take huge credit - holding off their giant domestic rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona in an epic Primera division campaign; and coming within a whisker of winning the Champions League final.

Since returning from his lengthy loan to Chelsea he has ousted Petr Cech as the club's number one and shown no sign of weakness as he settles into a different style of football. At 22 he is five years younger than Neuer and could be his heir apparent in the Fifa FifPro World XI one day, but for now Neuer - as his name suggests - is the new face of goalkeeping.