Messi, Ronaldo and Van Dijk among shortlisted Ballon d'Or nominees revealed

30 footballers have been shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or award - the most prestigious individual honor in football. Last year's Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric didn't make the cut this time. First-time nominees included the likes of Raheem Sterling, Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Virgil van Dijk, Georginio Wijnaldum, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dusan Tadic, Donny van de Beek, Marc-Andre ter Stergen, Bernado Silva, Heung-min Son, Kalidou Koulibaly, Joao Felix and Marquinhos.

Liverpool has the most nominees - seven, with Manchester City following with five. La Liga Santander big guns Barccelona and Real Madrid have four and two nominees respectively.

Herewith the complete 30-man shortlist:

Ajax: Donny van de Beek, Dusan Tadic. 

Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

Atletico Madrid: Joao Felix

Barcelona: Frenkie de Jong, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann. 

Bayern Munich: Robert Lewandowski. 

Juventus: Cristiano Ronaldo, Matthjis de Ligt.

Liverpool: Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Virgil van Djik, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah

Manchester City: Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling

Napoli: Kalidou Koulibaly

PSG: Kylian Mbappe, Marquinhos. 

Real Madrid: Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard

Tottenham: Hugo Lloris, Heung-min Son