The shortlist was drawn up by the members of FIFA’s Technical Study Group, who have been casting their expert eyes over each and every one of the matches held at Brazil 2014 to date.

Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Mats Hummels (Germany), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), and James Rodriguez (Colombia) are nominated to the accolade.

The winners of the adidas Golden Ball, Silver Ball and Bronze Ball will all be announced after the final match on 14 July.