Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Xavi will fight Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo for the Uefa Best Player in Europe award after the list of nominees was announced.
The inaugural award will take place in August and the final trio have been announced after a jury of 53 sports journalists representing each of the Uefa member associations scaled down the list which included Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, and Barcelona's Andres Iniesta.
A deciding vote to determine which player will win the award takes place on August 25.
Positions four to 10 have already been revealed, as confirmed by Uefa:
4. Andres Iniesta, Barcelona
5. Falcao, Porto
6. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United
7. Nemanja Vidic, Manchester United
8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, AC Milan
9. Gerard Pique, Barcelona
10. Manuel Neuer, Schalke/Bayern Munich.
Last year Messi won the Fifa Ballon d'Or, beating Iniesta and Xavi who were the other two finalists. Messi won the last European Player of the Year award in 2009.
