Arjen Robben among 23 Golden Ball candidates

Dutch football superstar Arjen Robben has made the list of 23 candidates for this years’ Golden Ball award. The list was published on Tuesday by the ceremonies organizer, French magazine “France Football”.  The Dutchman is the only Dutch player left on the list after its revision down from 59 players. The 31-year-old Dutchman has played 87 games this year netting 28 goals, and helped Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title and a semi-final spot in the Champions League. Only three candidates will remain after voting by a select panel of journalists and the magazine “France Football”, on November 30, 2015. The winner of the remaining three will be announced at the ceremony on January 11, 2016. Robben has some stiff competition with the likes of Christiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-German) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona) all vying for the award. Bookies have tipped Messi to be the favorite. Barcelona has six nominees, while both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have five.