France Football has released its 30-man shortlist for the 2019 Men’s Ballon d’Or award and 20-player shortlist for the Women Ballon d’Or award, with the winner to be revealed by the famous publication on 2 December in Paris.
The 2018 award was won by Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric and marked the first time that neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi had received the accolade since Kaka won it 11 years earlier in 2007.
Champions League winners Liverpool boast the most nominations, with seven names on the list. Virgil van Dijk, who was named 2019 UEFA Player of the Year, is joined on the list by Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Notable absentees from this year’s shortlist include Champions League finalist Harry Kane, Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, Ngolo Kante, Neymar, Pogba, Marcelo, Suarez, and 2018 winner Luka Modric
This year also sees the introduction of the Yashin trophy, named after the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon D’Or, Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union, to give that ignored minority a chance to get their hands on a prize of their own. Liverpool’s Alisson, Ederson of Manchester City, Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Lloris were selected alongside Manuel Neuer, Samir Handanovic, Jan Oblak, Andre Onana, Wojciech Szczesny and Ter Stegen fot the first ever Yashin Trophy.
Below is the full list of nominees;
The 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist
Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)
Dusan Tadic (Ajax)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Donny van de Beek (Ajax)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Alisson (Liverpool)
Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)
Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona)
Mohammed Salah (Liverpool)
Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)
Marquinhos (Paris St-Germain)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid).
Women Ballon d’Or shortlist
Lucy Bronze (Lyon),
Ellen White (Manchester City),
Sam Kerr (Chicago Red Stars),
Nilla Fischer (Wolfsburg),
Amandine Henry (Lyon),
Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride),
Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal),
Dzenifer Marozsan (Lyon),
Pernille Harder (Wolfsburg),
Sarah Bouhaddi (Lyon),
Megan Rapinoe (Reign FC),
Lieke Martens (Barcelona),
Sari van Veenendal (Atletico Madrid),
Wendie Renard (Lyon),
Rose Lavelle (Washington Spirit),
Marta (Orlando Pride),
Ada Hegerberg (Lyon),
Kosovare Asllani,
Sofia Jakobsson (both CD Tacon/Real Madrid),
Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns).
