Ballon D’or 2016 | List of 30-Man Shortlisted for 2016 Ballon D’or Award Title

The FIFA Ballon d’or is an award given to the best footballer of the football year. It is a merger of the France Football’s Ballon d’or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award. The FIFA Ballon d’or is awarded based on votes from international journalists and national team coaches and captains, who selected the players they deemed to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.

The 2016 Ballon D’or contestants have been released by France Football. The first list contains 30 names of footballers who made their mark through the football year.The award since inception has been shared by both Lionel Messi (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015), and Cristiano Ronaldo (2013 and 2014). It remains to be seen whether any of them would win the trophy or a new face breaking the monopoly.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the clear favorites to win the Ballon d’or 2016  having won the Champions League and the European Championship this year. He would however be challenged by Gareth Bale, his Real Madrid teammate who lead Wales to a historic Quarter Final place in the European Championship. Let’s consider who are who were nominated.

Also Read: Talking Points Chelsea vs Manchester United

Ballon D’or 2016 | 30-Man Shortlist

The shortlisted candidates to battle the current holder Lionel Messi are:

1. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City),
2. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund),
3. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid),
4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus),
5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid),
6. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City),
7. Paulo Dybala (Juventus),
8. Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid),
9. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid),
10. Higuain (Juventus),
11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United),
12. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona),
13. Koke (Atletico Madrid),
14. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid),
15. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich),
16. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur),
17. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City),
18. Lionel Messi (Barcelona),
19. Luka Modric (Real Madrid),
20. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich),
21. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich),
22. Neymar (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).

From the above, the EPL has 8 representatives, La Liga has 13, Italian League 3, German Bundesliga 5 while the Portuguese league has a sole representaive in Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon) who won the European Championship with Portugal.