Ballon d’Or: France Football Reveals 30-Man Shortlist for Prestigious Individual Award

​France Football has revealed the 30-man shortlist of Ballon d’Or nominees, with the winner set to be announced in Paris on December 3.

The last ten awards have been split evenly between ​Lionel Messi and ​Cristiano Ronaldo, but with Luka Modric recently honoured at the FIFA Best Awards, this could be the year that sees a changing of the guard.

​The Ballon d’Or has a complicated heritage. Between 2010 and 2015, it was unified with FIFA’s World Player of the Year award to form one award, the FIFA Ballon d’Or. FIFA ended that association in 2016 to form the Best Awards.

However, ​the history of the Ballon d’Or means that it is still regarded as the most prestigious individual award a footballer can receive.

Cristiano Ronaldo is in contention to win a third consecutive Ballon d’Or as he was named among the nominees (revealed via France Football’s Twitter), but long-time rival ​Messi and former teammate ​Modric will run him close.

Also included were Real Madrid pair ​Gareth Bale and ​Karim Benzema, who both scored in the Champions League final victory over Liverpool in May. ​The European champions are the best represented team with eight nominees including ​Marcelo, ​Isco and ​Sergio Ramos.

English champions Manchester City are represented by ​Sergio Aguero, who became the first player ever to reach 200 goals for the club earlier this year, and ​Kevin De Bruyne, who won the Playmaker Award for the most assists in the Premier League last season.

Liverpool are the best represented Premier League team with four nominees. Forward trio ​Mohamed Salah, ​Roberto Firmino and ​Sadio Mane, who scored 91 goals between them last season, are on this list, as is Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson.

The Chelsea pair of ​Eden Hazard and ​N’Golo Kante have been named among the 30 as well, with Paul Pogba the only Manchester United player to make the list. Hugo Lloris is nominated, and so is his Tottenham teammate ​Harry Kane, who became the first Englishman to win the World Cup golden boot since 1986.

Paris Saint-Germain forwards Edinson Cavani, ​Kylian Mbappe and ​Neymar are among the other nominees.

Here is the full list of nominees.

​Player	Country​	Club​
​Sergio Aguero	Argentina​	Manchester City​
​Gareth Bale	Wales​	Real Madrid​
​Alisson Becker	Brazil​	Liverpool​
​Karim Benzema	France​	Real Madrid​
Edinson Cavani	Uruguay	Paris Saint-Germain
Thibaut Courtois	Belgium	Real Madrid​
​Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal​	Juventus​
​Kevin De Bruyne	Belgium​	Manchester City​
​Roberto Firmino	Brazil​	Liverpool​
​Diego Godin	Uruguay​	Atletico Madrid​
​Antoine Griezmann	France​	Atletico Madrid​
​Eden Hazard	Belgium​	Chelsea​
​Isco	Spain​	Real Madrid​
​Harry Kane	England​	Tottenham​
​N’Golo Kante	France​	Chelsea​
​Hugo Lloris	​France	​Tottenham
​Sadio Mane	​Senegal	Liverpool​
​Mario Mandzukic	​Croatia	​Juventus
​Marcelo	Brazil​	Real Madrid​
​Kylian Mbappe	​France	​Paris Saint-Germain
​Lionel Messi	​Argentina	​Barcelona
​Luka Modric	​Croatia	​Real Madrid
​Neymar	​Brazil	​Paris Saint-Germain
​Jan Oblak	​Slovenia	​Atletico Madrid
​Paul Pogba	​France	​Manchester United
​Ivan Rakitic	​Croatia	​Barcelona
​Sergio Ramos	​Spain	​Real Madrid
​Mohamed Salah	​Egypt	​Liverpool
​Luis Suarez	​Uruguay	​Barcelona
​Raphael Varane	​France	​Real Madrid

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