For the past few years, the winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or has been won by either Lionel Messi or C.Ronaldo.

This trend started off back in 2008 when C.Ronaldo won the individual award of that year and from there on out it has been a battle between the Portuguese superstar and the Argentinean wizard.

Bayern Munich midfielder Javi Martinez claims the striker Thomas Müller can win the FIFA Ballon d’Or award in the near future.

Müller’s achievements can be boosted by very few players across the world. He has recently been good in terms of collecting team awards. At just 26 years of age, Müller has been crowned as the world champion and has won the Bundesliga and Champions League titles with his club, Bayern Munich. He is just shy of making 400 appearances in all competitions for club and country, and Martinez reckons that there is more to come from the striker.

Lionel Messi is the most successful player in the planet when it comes to FIFA Ballon d’Or awards.

He has won this accolade five times in his career, which is a new record. His closest competitor still playing the game is Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the title three times. In the past eight seasons, these two players have shared with the title between each other. Kaka was the last player outside the duo to have won this title. It would be easy to say that Messi has been the best player in the world, but the Barcelona superstar disagrees with this comment.

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic reckons that a number of players from the Catalan club should have featured in the shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.

This award is seen as the ultimate achievement in the life of a professional footballer, as it is awarded to the best player in the world. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been sharing the award for almost 8 seasons. Messi has nominated this mini contest with five compared to Ronaldo’s three titles. The 2016 award is likely to go to either of these stars, but the names on the shortlist evoke a lot of talking points.

Since 2008, the FIFA Ballon d’Or, or FIFA World Player of the Year, has been an exclusive club for two of the greatest players of all-time. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award on three occasions, and five-time winner Lionel Messi are the only players to win the prestigious trophy in recent years.

However, all that is about to change and if you’re looking to back a winner, there are more options than ever before. There are plenty of young, talented stars knocking on the door and it’s likely that at least one of those could at least rank alongside Ronaldo and Messi in the final three-man shortlist for 2016. We take a look at a few contenders for future Ballon d’Or awards and give our thoughts on who is most likely to win the trophy.