LOOK: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba headline Ballon d'Or shortlist
There are 30 nominees for the award
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1 min read
The Ballon d'Or won't be given out till early next year, but we now know the contenders. The 30 nominees for the award were revealed on Monday by France Football Magazine.
Take a look:
2016 Ballon d'Or shortlist
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City & Argentina)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund & Gabon)
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid & Wales)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City & Belgium)
Paulo Dybala (Juventus & Argentina)
Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid & Uruguay)
Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid & France)
Gonzalo Higuaín (Napoli/Juventus & Argentina)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain/Manchester United & Sweden)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain)
Koke (Atletico Madrid & Spain)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid & Germany)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munchen & Poland)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur & France)
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City & Algeria)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid & Croatia)
Thomas Muller (Bayern Munchen & Germany)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munchen & Germany)
Neymar (Barcelona & Brazil)
Dimitri Payet (West Ham & France)
Pepe (Real Madrid & Portugal)
Paul Pogba (Juventus/Manchester United & France)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid & Spain)
Rui Patricio (Sporting CP & Portugal)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal)
Luis Suarez (Barcelona & Uruguay)
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City & England)
Arturo Vidal (Bayern München & Chile)
Real Madrid leads the way with six players on the list. Barcelona and Bayern Munich both have four on the list.
The general consensus is that Real Madrid star Ronaldo will win the award. He was a goal scoring machine all year long with 54 strikes for club and country and won Euro 2016 with Portugal and the Champions League with Real Madrid. He was also crowned the best player in Europe in August. Messi leads all time with five Ballon d'Or trophies.
Note: FIFA is no longer associated with the award and is expected to relaunch its own world player of the year trophy, per BBC Sport.
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