Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar headline list of nominees for 2017 Ballon d’Or award

Neymar

THE nominees for the 2017 Ballon d’Or have been confirmed, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messia and Neymar leading the illustrious list.

The award has been shared by only two people over the past nine years, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi having dominated professional football’s most prestigious individual award for close on a decade.

However, Brazil international Neymar has made waves of his own, although many pundits still believe it is Ronaldo who will clinch the award this year, which would take his total tally to five.

Meanwhile, Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante finds himself amongst esteemed company, alongside fellow Premier League player and Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho.

Real Madrid duo Marcelo and Luka Modric, as well as Paulo Dybala of Juventus, also make the nominations.

Messi and Ronaldo were among the names of the final two batches of players, while PSG teenage star Kylian Mbappe was also included on the list of nominees.

2017 Ballon d’Or nominees:

Neymar
Luca Modrić
Paulo Dybala
Marcelo
N’Golo Kanté 
Luis Suárez
Sergio Ramos
Jan Oblak
Philippe Coutinho
Dries Mertens
Kevin De Bruyne
Robert Lewandowski
David De Gea
Harry Kane
Edin Džeko
Antoine Griezmann 
Toni Kroos 
Radamel Falcao
Sadio Mane
Gianluigi Buffon
Lionel Messi
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 
Mats Hummels 
Edinson Cavani 
Karim Benzema 
Eden Hazard
Leonardo Bonucci 
Isco
Kylian Mbappe
Cristiano Ronaldo