Ronaldo, Messi and Griezmann among the nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or
Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Antoine Griezmann and Sergio Aguero were among the nominees announced for this year’s Ballon d’Or award.
The honour is bestowed annually by France Football magazine with the 30 nominees announced in groups of five, in alphabetical order.
Last year’s winner Ronaldo headlined the second batch of nominations announced yesterday. The Juventus forward has won the award the last two years and five times in total – a record he shares with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo played a key role in Real’s European triumph last season and scored a World Cup hat-trick for Portugal against Spain before signing for Juventus, and has been in the headlines recently after denying allegations of rape.
Wales star Bale – whose bicycle kick against Liverpool helped clinch the Uefa Champions League for Real Madrid – joined Manchester City striker Aguero and Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker in the first batch.
Bale’s clubmate Karim Benzema and Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani were the other names in that quintet.
Griezmann, a World Cup winner with France, was joined by Atletico Madrid colleague Diego Godin, while Real Madrid pair Thibaut Courtois and Isco are also in contention.
Messi, who won the award four times in a row from 20092013, is also included having taken Argentina almost single-handedly into the World Cup, but if he is to claim the Ballon d’Or for a sixth time he must see off Golden Ball winner Luka Modric as well as Neymar, who were also recognised along with goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
The Premier League was well represented with Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane (Liverpool), and Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris nominated.
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold was among the nominations for the first Kopa Trophy – an award for the best player under the age of 21 to be voted for by the previous 33 winners of the main award.
World Cup winner and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe was also nominated in the 10-man shortlist.
This year will also crown the inaugural Women’s Ballon d’Or with Brazil’s Marta, a six-time winner of the Fifa World Player of the Year award, among the nominees.
The winners will be announced on December 3.