Report: Gianluigi Buffon, Sergio Busquets among names excluded from Ballon d'Or

Sergio Busquets, who won the Champions League with Barcelona this year, and Gianluigi Buffon, who backstopped Juventus to a domestic double, failed to make the initial Ballon d'Or short list, according to Francesc Aguilar from Mundo Deportivo.

The Spanish newspaper obtained the first 59 names for the award, with Busquets and Buffon headlining a separate category of surprising omissions.

Chelsea's Nemanja Matic, Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm, Barcelona's Arda Turan, and Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus are just some others who miss out.

The usual suspects do appear, including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar. Alongside them are lesser lights, like Bournemouth's Christian Atsu, former QPR winger Edu Vargas, and Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina.

FIFA's football committee will cut the list to 23 in December, ahead of the award ceremony in January.

Here are the names, as grouped by club: