Published on 04:28 PM, December 03, 2018

Messi, Ronaldo, Modric among Ballon d’Or nominees

Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi (R) and Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo (L) chat before taking their seats for The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony. Photo: AFP File
Star Online Report

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have shared football’s most iconic individual prize between them for the past 10 years but this could be the year that the Ballon d’Or duopoly is ended.

Luka Modric is the bookmakers’ favourite to claim France Football’s prize, currently held by Ronaldo, after his sparkling form at this summer’s World Cup and there appears to be a growing momentum for a third party to claim the prize.

France football revealed the names of the nominees and Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar were all there along with Luka Modric who had won the FIFA best players award and is expected to thwart the other superstars after he won the Champions League and Croatia reached the final of the FIFA World Cup.

All the nominees for the 2018 Ballon d'Or, ahead of Monday's ceremony in Paris:

- The 30 nominees for the men's prize -

Goalkeepers

Alisson Becker (Roma/Liverpool/BRA), Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea/Real Madrid/BEL), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur/FRA), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid/SLO)

Defenders

Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid/URU), Marcelo (Real Madrid/BRA), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/ESP), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid/FRA)

Midfielders

Luka Modric (Real Madrid/CRO), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea/FRA), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/BEL), Isco (Real Madrid/ESP), Paul Pogba (Manchester United/FRA), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona/CRO)

Forwards

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/ARG), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/WAL), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/FRA), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain/URU), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus/POR), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool/BRA), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid/FRA), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/BEL), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG), Mario Mandzukic (Juventus/CRO), Sadio Mane (Liverpool/SEN), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ARG), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain/BRA), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/EGY), Luis Suarez (Barcelona/URU)

- The 15 nominees for the women's prize -

Lucy Bronze (Lyon/ENG), Pernille Harder (Wolfsburg/DEN), Ada Hegerberg (Lyon/NOR), Amandine Henry (Lyon/FRA), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns/USA), Fran Kirby (Chelsea/ENG), Sam Kerr (Chicago Red Stars/AUS), Saki Kumagai (Lyon/JPN), Amel Majri (Lyon/FRA), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Lyon/GER), Marta (Orlando Pride/BRA), Lieke Martens (Barcelona/NED), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign/USA), Wendie Renard (Lyon/FRA), Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns/CAN)

- Kopa Trophy best under-21 player nominees -

Houssem Aouar (Lyon/FRA), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/ENG), Patrick Cutrone (AC Milan/ITA), Ritsu Doan (Groningen/JPN), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan/ITA), Amadou Haidara (RB Salzburg/MAL), Justin Kluivert (Ajax/Roma/ITA), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund/USA), Rodrygo (Santos/BRA)

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