Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo head leaked Ballon d’Or list that includes some surprise names

Chief amongst those surprises must be the inclusion of David Ospina particularly considering the fact that Gianluigi Buffon does not make the cut, according to Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo.

Elsewhere, Championship player Massimo Luongo does make the list presumably for his heroics at the Asian Cup when the then Swindon Town man (he now turns out for QPR) scored as Australia beat South Korea 2-1 in the final.

Giovanni Dos Santos also makes the cut alongside other surprise inclusions Christian Atsu, Shinji Okazaki and Andres Guardado.

Messi and Ronaldo have shared the award between them since 2008 and that hegemony seems unlikely to be broken any time soon.

However, Chile’s recent strong showing at international tournaments sees Claudio Bravo, Gary Medel, Alexis Sanchez, Eduardo Vargas and Arturo Vidal on the list.

The preliminary list is whittled down to 23 in December before the winner is announced in January.

Can this list really be trusted? The hoopla over Ospina's inclusion for Arsenal on Wednesday, and the ridicule of Arsene Wenger as he defended the stopper as a "world class" player, suggests that there might be more than a hint of mischief about this, especially as Buffon was a rock for a Juventus side that won a fourth consecutive Scudetto while also making the Champions League final (not bad going for a team believed to be 50-50 to progress from the group stage).

Argentina: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Nicolas Otamendi (Valencia/ Manchester City), Javier Pastore (PSG), Carlos Tevez (Juventus/Boca)

Australia: Massimo Luongo (Swindon Town/QPR)

Austria: David Alaba (Bayern Munich)

Belgium: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg/Man City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Brazil: Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Neymar (Barcelona), Willian (Chelsea)

Chile: Claudio Bravo (Barcelona), Gary Medel (Inter), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal), Eduardo Vargas (QPR/Hoffenheim), Arturo Vidal (Juventus/Bayern Munich)

Colombia: Carlos Bacca (Sevilla Milan), Jackson Martinez (FC Porto/Atletico), David Ospina (Arsenal), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid)

Croatia: Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona)

England: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney ( Manchester United)

France: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), Paul Pogba (Juventus)

Germany: Toni Kroos (Bayern), Thomas Muller (Bayern), Manuel Neuer (Bayern)

Ghana: Christian Atsu (Everton/Bournemouth [both loans from Chelsea]), Andre Ayew (Marseille/Swansea)

Ivory Coast: Wilfried Bony (Swansea City/ Man City), Yaya Toure (Man City)

Italy: Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/New York)

Japan: Shinji Okazaki (Mainz 05/Leicester City)

Mexico: Giovanni Dos Santos (Villarreal/LA Galaxy), Andres Guardado (PSV Eindhoven)

Netherlands: Memphis Depay (PSV/ Man Utd), Arjen Robben (Bayern)

Peru: Paolo Guerrero (Corinthians/Flamengo)

Poland: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern)

Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG)

Spain: Diego Costa (Chelsea), David De Gea (Man Utd), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Alvaro Morata (Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Real)

South Korea: Son Heung-min (Bayer Leverkusen/Tottenham)

Uruguay: Edinson Cavani (PSG), Carlos Andres Sanchez (River Plate), Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

Wales: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)