No FIFA Involvement | 2016 Ballon d'Or Boots Battle

Unexpectedly, France Football, the French magazine that created the Ballon d'Or many years ago, released a 30 player shortlist for the next award. Initially it was assumed that France Football and FIFA would hold one edition of the award together, but today's events suggest that the 2016 edition will already be awarded with the new, FIFA-free format.

A La Liga player will win

This means that the winner will be voted by a panel of journalists, while national team captains and coaches lose their voting rights. Additionally, there won't be a 'three finalists' announcement before the full reveal of winner and ranking. More details can be found here.

2016 Ballon d'Or - Football Boots

This image shows the 30 nominees and their respective boot brands.

As expected, Adidas and Nike heavily dominate the ranking with 24 of the 30 nominated players signed by either of the two brands. Two players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sergio Ramos, are in between the two brands in a way as both are nearing completion of their switches from Nike to Adidas. We've counted them for Adidas here, resulting in 14 Nike and 10 Adidas players overall.

2016 Ballon d'Or nominees by brand

Impressively, Puma has five players in the list, most notably Antoine Griezmann of Atlético Madrid. Lastly, Umbro is represented through Portugal and Real Madrid center back Pepe.

Do you agree with the nominations? Which player would you choose for the 2016 Ballon d'Or award? Drop us a line below.