Ronaldo, Messi and Modric shortlisted for Balloon d’or Award News

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Ronaldo, Messi and Modric shortlisted for Balloon d’or Award

By Daily Sports on October 9, 2018

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been named among 30 nominees for the men's Ballon d’Or trophy awarded by France Football magazine.

The Portugal captain has won the award for the past two years and five times in all, a record he shares with Argentina’s Lionel Messi who is also on the list announced on Monday.

European champions Real Madrid dominate the nominees with eight players, including Croatia midfielder Luka Modric and Wales forward Gareth Bale.

Modric won the Golden Ball as the best player at this year’s World Cup in Russia, where Croatia finished runners-up, and last month claimed FIFA’s The Best men's player award, given to the world’s top player.

Bale scored twice in the Champions League final win over Liverpool.

France World Cup winners Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Raphael Varane, one of the Real Madrid contingent, and captain Hugo Lloris have also been nominated.

A panel of journalists select the winner of the Ballon d’Or, which was first established in 1956 and will this year feature a women’s award for the first time, to be decided from a shortlist of 15 players.

2018 Men’s Ballon d’Or nominees:

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City and Argentina)

Alisson (Roma/Liverpool and Brazil)

Gareth Bale (Real Madrid and Wales)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and France)

Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain and Uruguay)

Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea/Real Madrid and Belgium)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus and Portugal)

Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)

Roberto Firmino (Liverpool and Brazil)

Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid and Uruguay)

Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid and France)