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.
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Men’s Nominees
- Sergio Aguero
- Alisson
- Gareth Bale
- Karim Benzema
- Edinson Cavani
- Thibaut Courtois
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Roberto Firmino
- Diego Godin
- Antoine Griezmann
- Eden Hazard
- Isco
- Harry Kane
- N’Golo Kante
- Hugo Lloris
- Mario Mandzukic
- Sadio Mane
- Marcelo
- Kylian Mbappe
- Lionel Messi
- Luka Modric
- Neymar
- Jan Oblak
- Paul Pogba
- Ivan Rakitic
- Mohamed Salah
- Sergio Ramos
- Luis Suarez
- Raphael Varane
Women’s Nominees
- Lucy Bronze
- Pernille Harder
- Ada Hegerberg
- Amandine Henry
- Lindsay Horan
- Fran Kirby
- Sam Kerr
- Saki Kumagai
- Amel Majri
- Dzsenifer Maroszan
- Marta
- Lieke Martens
- Megan Rapinoe
- Wendie Renard
- Christine Sinclair.