Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi & Neymar on Ballon d'Or shortlist

It is the eighth consecutive year that Real Madrid's Ronaldo and Barcelona's Messi have been on the shortlist. Mark Sampson is in contention for Fifa's women's football world coach of the year after guiding England to third place at the World Cup. The winners will be announced at a gala in Zurich on 11 January. Ronaldo has been named the world's best footballer for the past two years, ending Messi's four-year hold on an award regarded as the game's most prestigious individual accolade. The three contenders were chosen from a 23-man list that also included Wales and Real Madrid attacker Gareth Bale.Fifa award nominees Ballon d'Or: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar

World coach of the year for men's football: Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola, Jorge Sampaoli

Women's world player of the year: Carli Lloyd, Aya Miyama, Celia Sasic

World coach of the year for women's football: Jill Ellis, Mark Sampson, Norio Sasaki

Puskas award: Alessandro Florenzi, Wendell Lira, Lionel Messi

A first for Neymar It is the first time 23-year-old Brazilian Neymar, who along with Messi has helped Barcelona to the top of La Liga, has made the final three.

Spanish football writer Andy West: "Neymar is still only 23, yet he has 252 career goals: 136 for Santos, 70 for Barcelona and 46 for Brazil. "To put those figures into context, by the time Messi and Ronaldo reached the age Neymar is now (23 years and nine months), they had 'only' registered respective career goal tallies of 186 and 127."

All three candidates are among the 50 players to make the team of the year shortlist, while 28-year-old Messi is also nominated for the Puskas Award for the year's best goal.

Messi has scored 48 goals so far in 2015, despite being injured for two months. Portugal captain Ronaldo, 30, has also scored 48 times for club and country, but Real are six points adrift of Barca in La Liga.

Guardiola, Enrique & Sampaoli shortlisted The other award categories are women's world player of the year and men's football world coach of the year. USA's Carli Lloyd, Japan's Aya Miyama and Germany's Celia Sasic will vie to be named women's world player of the year.

Luis Enrique heads the coach of the year shortlist after leading Barcelona to Champions League, La Liga and Spanish Cup triumphs.

His two rivals are Pep Guardiola, who led Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title, and Jorge Sampaoli, under whose guidance Chile won their first Copa America title this summer. Read more on BBC