Ballon d’Or 2016 Award Nominees

The Ballon d’Or has always been a party left for Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) but this year’s event may be a surprise to many. As the world football governing body FIFA join hands for the event, France Football has published a list of 30 players who could win the trophy. 

Though Barca legend Messi won the Ballon d’Or in 2015, reports confirm that Madrid rival C. Ronaldo is on cloud nine waiting for a “deserved” individual trophy to crown his exploits at the last Euro 2016.

CR7 won the European Championships with Portugal and grabbed a Champions League trophy in May. The Portuguese is aiming to win it this time or never again.

These are the 30 nominees: 

1. Sergio Kun Agüero (Manchester City)

2. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund)

3. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)

4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

6. Paulo Dybala (Juventus)

7. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

8. Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid)

9. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid)

10.  Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus)

11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)

12. Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona)

13. Koke (Atlético Madrid)

14. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)

15. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Múnich) 

16. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)

17. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)

18. Leo Messi (FC Barcelona)

19. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

20. Thomas Müller (Bayern de Múnich)

21. Manuel Neuer (Bayern de Múnich)

22. Neymar (FC Barcelona)

23. Dimitri Payet (West Ham)

24. Pepe (Real Madrid)

25. Paul Pogba (Manchester United)

26. Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)

27. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

28. Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

29. Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)

30. Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich)

FIFA Guidelines for Ballon d’Or Award:

• Voted by the national team coaches & captains along with one journalist from top football nations around the world.
• Performance period from 22 November 2015 to 20 November 2016 is taken into consideration.
• Voting starts on 26th October 2016 and completes on 20th November 2016.
• The winners will be announced on 09 January 2017 in the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

When And Where The Ballon d’Or Ceremony Will Be Held?

FIFA world player of the year will be announced on Monday, 09 January 2016 Zurich, Switzerland Or London, England.

There are number of other awards also up for grabs: FIFA Puskas (best goal of the year), Women player of the year, manager of the year and FIFpro Team of the year.