Bale, Ozil in Ballon d'Or shortlist; Mourinho for coach of the year

Real Madrid’s Welsh winger Gareth Bale has joined Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for FIFA's Ballon d'Or award.

The 23-man shortlist for the prestigious World Player of the Year award was announced on Tuesday.

Five English Premier League players -- Manchester United’s Robin van Persie, ManchesterCity's Yaya Toure, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Arsenal's Mesut Ozil – made the cut.

Six players from Bayern Munich's treble-winning team were included among the 23 nominees for the World Player of the Year award announced by FIFA on Tuesday.

German internationals Manuel Neuer, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller and Philipp Lahm, Frenchman Franck Ribery and Dutchman Arjen Robben were the Bayern players on the list.

Jose Mourinho was included on the shortlist for Coach of the Year despite failing to win any major trophies with Real Madrid last season, a performance the Portuguese himself described as "disastrous".

There were no English players on the list that includes PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Monaco’s Radamel Falcao and Borussia Dortmund’s ever-improving Robert Lewandowski.

Bale became the world's most expensive player when he joined Real Madrid from Tottenham for 100m euros (£85.3m) in September after a 26-goal haul for Spurs.

The winner of the Ballon d'Or -- voted for by coaches, captains and journalists -- will be unveiled on 13 January 2014 in Zurich.

Ballon d'Or shortlist: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales), Edinson Cavani (Paris St Germain/Uruguay), Radamel Falcao (Monaco/Colombia), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain/Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich/Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund/Poland), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich/Germany), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich/Germany), Neymar (Barcelona/Brazil), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal/Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/Italy), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich/France), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich/Netherlands), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich/Germany), Luis Suarez (Liverpool/Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain/Brazil), Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast), Robin van Persie (Manchester United/Netherlands), Xavi (Barcelona/Spain).

Coach of the year shortlist: Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid/ex-Paris St Germain), Rafael Benitez (Napoli/ex-Chelsea), Antonio Conte (Juventus), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (ex-Manchester United), Jupp Heynckes (ex-Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea/ex-Real Madrid), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).