Messi and Suárez, candidates for the Ballon d'Or

The French magazine France Football, who run the Ballon d’Or award for the best player of the year, have announced their shortlist of 30 candidates and there are two blaugranas in the mix in Leo Messi and Luis Suárez.

It is worth remembering Leo Messi has won the award an incredible five times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2015). The first was when the award was organised only by France Football in 2009 and the other four were under the name ‘FIFA Ballon d’Or’ given by both the French publication and FIFA. From 2016, the awards separated again and FIFA now award ‘The Best’ in which Leo Messi is also in the final three. The winner of this edition of the Ballon d’Or will be announced in January.

The rest of the players who are in the final 30 are: Paulo Dybala and Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Neymar Jr, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappé (PSG), N’Golo Kanté and Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Marcelo Vieira, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, Isco Alarcón and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mané (Liverpool), Jan Oblak and Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Robert Lewandowski and Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), David De Gea (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Edin Dzeko (AS Roma), Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan) and Radamel Falcao (Mònaco).