Ballon d'Or: Ronaldo the favourite to retain crown
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar head the list of the 30 Ballon d'or nominees announced by France Football on Monday.
Published : Oct 09, 2017 14:18 IST
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were among the standout names on the 30-man shortlist for the 2017 Ballon d'Or released by France Football on Monday.
Real Madrid star Ronaldo and his Barcelona rival Messi have shared the past nine awards, the latter becoming the first man to win it on five occasions in 2015.
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The Portugal captain is expected to draw level with Messi, having helped Real Madrid win La-Liga and become the first side to successfully defend the Champions League in its modern guise.
Ronaldo is joined by six of his Madrid team-mates, making the European champion the best-represented club in the nominees.
La-Liga accounts for more than a third of the short-list with 11 of the players plying their trade in Spain's top flight. The Premier League is next (7), followed by Serie A (5), Ligue 1 (4) and the Bundesliga (3).
It will be difficult for anyone to topple Ronaldo, but should it occur the man to depose him will be one of the individuals listed with the 32-year-old below.
Nominees
PLAYER | TEAMS |
| Neymar | PSG & Brazil |
| Luka Modric | Real Madrid & Croatia |
| Paulo Dybala | Juventus & Argentina |
| Marcelo | Real Madrid & Brazil |
| N'Golo Kante | Chelsea & France |
| Luis Suarez | FC Barcelona & Uruguay |
| Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid & Spain |
| Jan Oblak | Atletico Madrid & Slovenia |
| Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool FC & Brazil |
| Dries Mortens | SSC Naploli & Belgium |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City & Belgium |
| Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich & Poland |
| David De Gea | Manchester United & Spain |
| Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur & England |
| Eden Dzeko | AS Roma & Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid and France |
| Toni Kroos | Real Madrid and Germany |
| Gianluigi Buffon | Juventus and Italy |
| Sadio Mane | Liverpool and Senegal |
| Radamel Falcao | AS Monaco and Colombia |
| Lionel Messi | Barcelona and Argentina |
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Borussia Dortmund and Gabon |
| Edinson Cavani | Paris Saint-Germain and Uruguay |
| Mats Hummels | Bayern Munich and Germany |
| Karim Benzema | Real Madrid and France |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid and Portugal |
| Eden Hazard | Chelsea and Belgium |
| Leonardo Bonucci | AC Milan and Italy |
| Isco | Real Madrid and Spain |
| Kylian Mbappe | Paris Saint Germain and France |