It is nearly that time again to see who has been voted for as the World footballer of the year (Ballon D'or). Last year it was the Argentinian Lionel Messi who won the award, for the fourth time in a row! However this year have seen some amazing talent coming from other players so it will be interesting to see if he misses out this year. The Barcelona boys home soccer jersey 2013 - 2014 sales have been sky high ever since he last won the award, it will be interesting to see if sales rocket in a different shirt dependant on the winner.

As you may see online, many stores stock the Barcelona soccer jerseys both the home and away styles. This shirt is one of the most popular in the world, particularly with 'Messi 10' personalisation on the back.

Today Fifa revealed the candidates who had made the shortlist for the Ballon D'or award, one of the most exciting soccer awards around. There are 23 players in total who have been shortlisted; they will all hoping to pick the award up and change what has been Lionel Messi's for four years running.

Alongside the Fifa World player award the Fifa World Coach Of The Year will also be decided with a list of ten candidates shortlisted. Soccer experts from FIFA and a group of experts from France decided on the candidates that would be shortlisted.

There is currently no one representing England in the final 23, with Wayne Rooney and a string of other players narrowly missing out. A few years back the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ryan Giggs etc. were constant nominees.

Gareth Bale represents Real Madrid and Wales making him the only British candidate. There are five Premier League players nominated for the award, these are: Luis Suarez, Mesut Ozil, Robin Van Persie, Yaya Toure and Eden Hazard.

The players nominated for the Fifa World Footballer Of The Year / Fifa Ballon D'or are:

- Gareth Bale
- Edinson Cavani
- Ramadel Falcao
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- Eden Hazard
- Andres Iniesta
- Philipp Lahm
- Robert Lewandowski
- Lionel Messi
- Thomas Muller
- Manuel Neuer
- Neymar
- Mesut Ozil
- Andrea Pirlo
- Franck Ribery
- Arjen Robben
- Cristiano Ronaldo 
- Bastian Schweinsteiger
- Luis Suarez 
- Thiago Silva
- Yaya Toure
- Robin Van Persie
- Xavi

Germany are the nation with the most players nominated this year, they have five players in for contention. Spain, Uruguay, Netherlands and Brazil all have two while Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, France, Italy, Ivory Coast, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Wales all have one each.

Four players who play in the Barcelona soccer jerseys are up for the award; these are Andreas Aniesta, Xavi, Messi and new boy Neymar. Neymar signed from Santos this year after a promising show of form for Santos, he has already impressed every time he has put on the Barcelona soccer jerseys, could he steal Lionel Messi's limelight?

Lionel Messi is currently the bookies favourite to win the award, he is 11/8 to win the award and behind him is Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery who is 7/4 at the minute. In third place is Real Madrid's Christiano Ronaldo at 6/1.

Gareth Bale, who was named the World's most expensive player after Real Madrid paid Tottenham Hotspur £86 million for his services is currently at 50/1, making his chances sound slightly slim.

The winner of the Ballon D'or will be revealed on the 13th January 2014, this will take place in Kongresshaus, Zurich (Switzerland) and Barcelona will be hoping that it will be one of the players who play in the Barcelona soccer jerseys.

The four Barcelona players nominated will be hoping that one of them can win the award. Barcelona have been playing outstanding for a number of years now, with Messi known as their biggest threat. Last year now Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho claimed that the Ballon D'or was fixed so Messi would win over Ronaldo who he thought was the better player.

There have been many opinions on the Ballon D'or posted online, with a lot of people claiming that they already 'know' that Messi will win it. Some say that he does not deserve to win again and they would like to see somebody else win it and some say that they think Messi is the best player in the world and should win it again.

There is one thing we know for sure, if he does win the World Player Of The Year Award Again the sales of the Barcelona boys home soccer jersey are bound to soar. Young football fans idolise Lionel Messi and he has a huge fan base behind him who will be hoping he wins once again.

Who would you choose as your World Player of the Year?

We would love to hear what you have to say!

Check out the Soccer Box online shop, here you can browse a wide array of official soccer merchandise. This includes replica football shirts like the Barcelona boys home soccer jersey 2013 - 2014.  There is a category called Barcelona soccer jerseys where you will find every Barcelona shirt, shorts, socks, kit, training top, tracksuit or football accessory you will ever need!