Leicester City's Japan international striker Shinji Okazaki has made the initial 59-name list of candidates for the FIFA Ballon d'Or prize, according to a report Friday in Spanish sports daily Mundo Deportivo.
Okazaki scored 12 goals for German club for Mainz last season before moving to Premier League side Leicester this summer on a four-year deal thought to be worth €10 million.
The top international scorer in the world in 2009, Okazaki has been capped 95 times for Japan, scoring 46 times including a brace in a 6-0 drubbing of Afghanistan in a World Cup qualifier last month.
The gala for the Ballon d'Or, FIFA's World Player of the Year award, will take place in January.