Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi head the 23-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or, the award presented annually to soccer's world player of the year.<br />Ronaldo has won the award the last two years while Messi won it in each of the four previous years.<br />Ronaldo, who plays for Real Madrid in Spain's La Liga, scored a league-best 48 goals last season and is second with six this season.<br />Messi scored 43 times for Barcelona last season and had three goals before going down with an injury this fall.<br />Five of the other finalists played on Messi's club team, which won last spring's Champions League, while five each came from Real Madrid and German champion Bayern Munich.
