The FIFA announced the list of nominees for the Ballon d'Or. Given their Goalimpact, they are all well above average and most of them world-class. Personally, I find the usual bias in the selection towards strongly offensive oriented players a pitty, so I'm delighted to see Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Yaya Toure, and Neuer on that list. In case this list is strangely familar to you, it actually contains 80% of the players of the Goalimpact Top-10. Only Fabregas and Busquets are mssing.
Update:
By readers' request, I added the 1-Year-Goalimpacts of the players. These values estimate the impact the players had between October 2012 and October 2013. As the readers argued, the nomination is a price for the year and hence the 1Y-Goalimpacts should be a better gauche for their chances in the competition. That said, these values will suffer more from co-linearity and hence the values are less precise.
From the top ten players according to 1Y-Goalimpact with at least 2500 minutes, Arjen Robben, Cesc Fàbregas, Dani Alves and David Villa are missing. Bale, by the way, is only number 668 on the list.
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 188,6 |
| Lionel Messi | 184,5 |
| Philipp Lahm | 179,9 |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | 178,7 |
| Mesut Özil | 167,1 |
| Thomas Müller | 166,5 |
| Manuel Neuer | 164,9 |
| Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 164,6 |
| Andrés Iniesta | 164,5 |
| Xavi | 163,0 |
| Arjen Robben | 160,6 |
| Franck Ribéry | 149,3 |
| Yaya Touré | 148,6 |
| Andrea Pirlo | 146,8 |
| Robin Van Persie | 145,0 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 144,7 |
| Eden Hazard | 136,4 |
| Radamel Falcao | 134,1 |
| Thiago Silva | 132,6 |
| Luis Suárez | 132,2 |
| Neymar | 120,2 |
| Edinson Cavani | 119,2 |
| Gareth Bale | 117,6 |
Update:
By readers' request, I added the 1-Year-Goalimpacts of the players. These values estimate the impact the players had between October 2012 and October 2013. As the readers argued, the nomination is a price for the year and hence the 1Y-Goalimpacts should be a better gauche for their chances in the competition. That said, these values will suffer more from co-linearity and hence the values are less precise.
Name | Team | National Team | 1Y-Goalimpact | Minutes |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | Bayern München | Deutschland | 279,4 | 4150 |
| Philipp Lahm | Bayern München | Deutschland | 270,6 | 4767 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Portugal | 266,0 | 5251 |
| Manuel Neuer | Bayern München | Deutschland | 251,5 | 5425 |
| Arjen Robben | Bayern München | Niederlande | 249,7 | 2847 |
| Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Paris Saint-Germain | Schweden | 239,9 | 4910 |
| Lionel Messi | FC Barcelona | Argentinien | 230,4 | 4682 |
| Franck Ribéry | Bayern München | Frankreich | 219,1 | 4019 |
| Mesut Özil | Arsenal FC | Deutschland | 205,5 | 4155 |
| Thomas Müller | Bayern München | Deutschland | 201,9 | 4420 |
| Andrea Pirlo | Juventus | Italien | 198,7 | 4841 |
| Iniesta | FC Barcelona | Spanien | 185,8 | 4784 |
| Robin van Persie | Manchester United | Niederlande | 175,0 | 4600 |
| Yaya Touré | Manchester City | Elfenbeinküste | 174,8 | 4557 |
| Robert Lewandowski | Borussia Dortmund | Polen | 174,2 | 4957 |
| Eden Hazard | Chelsea FC | Belgien | 167,4 | 4820 |
| Thiago Silva | Paris Saint-Germain | Brasilien | 165,6 | 3681 |
| Xavi | FC Barcelona | Spanien | 162,0 | 4542 |
| Falcao | AS Monaco | Kolumbien | 161,5 | 4526 |
| Neymar | FC Barcelona | Brasilien | 155,6 | 1756 |
| Luis Suárez | Liverpool FC | Uruguay | 140,2 | 4260 |
| Edinson Cavani | Paris Saint-Germain | Uruguay | 129,4 | 4686 |
| Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | Wales | 129,1 | 3959 |
From the top ten players according to 1Y-Goalimpact with at least 2500 minutes, Arjen Robben, Cesc Fàbregas, Dani Alves and David Villa are missing. Bale, by the way, is only number 668 on the list.