Ballon d’Or: Luka Modric and Kylian Mbappe front-runners for the coveted title

Croatian midfielder Luka Modric and French wonderkid Kylian Mbappe are the front-runners to clinch the Ballon d’Or this term, in a bid to end the 10-year dominance by modern-day greats Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

This year’s Ballon d’Or would also see France Football award an individual trophy to a woman footballer. The awards will be distributed on December 3 this year in the French capital of Paris.

Before the domination of Messi and Ronaldo began over the coveted title, Brazilian midfielder Kaka was the last person to win the award in 2007.
With the duo not being that impactful this season, the door is once again open for a new face to win the award after a period of eleven years.

Brazilian forward Marta was among the 15 nominees for the title in the women’s category. Names like Norwegian Ada Hegerberg of Lyon and Dzsenufer Marozsan are also included into that list.

The 19-year Mbappe won the World Cup title in Russia this year with him scoring, which also made him the first teenager since Pele in 1958 to achieve this feat.

Also read: FIFA Awards: Croatian star Luka Modric bags best male player award

FIFA awarded Modric with the Best Player award and the Real Madrid mideo, already having won the Champions League with the Spanish club is an automatic favourite. The 33-year old also was named the best player of the World Cup where Croatia ended up as the second-best side to France who won the contest 4-1.

Mbappe is also another contender for the award as he helped France to win the World Cup and also led Paris Saint-Germain to a domestic season last season.

The other names in the list include the likes of Gareth Bale, Mohammed Salah, Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero, amongst others.

• Men’s Nominees

  1. Sergio Aguero
  2. Alisson
  3. Gareth Bale
  4. Karim Benzema
  5. Edinson Cavani
  6. Thibaut Courtois
  7. Cristiano Ronaldo
  8. Kevin De Bruyne
  9. Roberto Firmino
  10. Diego Godin
  11. Antoine Griezmann
  12. Eden Hazard
  13. Isco
  14. Harry Kane
  15. N’Golo Kante
  16. Hugo Lloris
  17. Mario Mandzukic
  18. Sadio Mane
  19. Marcelo
  20. Kylian Mbappe
  21. Lionel Messi
  22. Luka Modric
  23. Neymar
  24. Jan Oblak
  25. Paul Pogba
  26. Ivan Rakitic
  27. Mohamed Salah
  28. Sergio Ramos
  29. Luis Suarez
  30. Raphael Varane

  Women’s Nominees

  1. Lucy Bronze
  2. Pernille Harder
  3. Ada Hegerberg
  4. Amandine Henry
  5. Lindsay Horan
  6. Fran Kirby
  7. Sam Kerr
  8. Saki Kumagai
  9. Amel Majri
  10. Dzsenifer Maroszan
  11. Marta
  12. Lieke Martens
  13. Megan Rapinoe
  14. Wendie Renard
  15. Christine Sinclair.