Six Bayern Munich players named to shortlist for FIFA Ballon d'Or

Just a couple of days after FIFA announced the finalists for the 2014 FIFA Women's Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, FIFA have released the shortlist for the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or award.

And, by "shortlist", FIFA gives you a list of 23 different players.

Six players from Bayern Munich have made the list along with one former member.

As you'll remember from last season when Cristiano Ronaldo robbed Franck Ribery of the Ballon d'Or, international competition means a whole heck of a lot for this award. So, the German contingent of Bayern players nominated for this award do have a pretty good shot at bringing the award back to Munich.

You can make a great argument for all six of the Bayern Munich players for the award. In fact, a great argument can be made for nearly all of the players named to the shortlist. Depending on what random criteria that the voters choose to go with this year, it really could be anybody's award.

Here's a full list of all of the nominated players.

The field will be narrowed to three players on December 1, and the winner will be announced on January 12, 2015.