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| Lionel Messi – Ballon d’Or 2016 Nominee |
Football most prestigious individual award is back and in a new format.. the hosts, France Football, have parties ways with FIFA so the award is no longer referred to as FIFA Ballon d’Or.
The new award will be presented in December and not January while it will also see 30 players nominated for the final and not 3 anymore. France Football have taken to their official website to announce the 30 finalists for the award and it features four FC Barcelona players.
Lionel Messi, winner of the last edition, and record 5-time winner heads the list and is one of the favourites for the award. The star is joined by Barcelona teammates Neymar and Luis Suárez while midfielder Andres Iniesta also make the list.
The big shock is the exclusion of defensive Midfielder Sergio Busquets once again from the award and Gérard Piqué who has had one of his best years, excluded from the list.
BALLON D’OR 2016 NOMINEES/FINALISTS
Sergio Agüero (Manchester City and Argentina)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund and Gabon)
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid and Wales)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)
Paulo Dybala (Juventus and Argentina)
Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid and Uruguay)
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid and France)
Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus/Napoli and Argentina)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United/PSG and Sweden)
Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona and Spain)
Koke Resurrección (Atlético Madrid and Spain)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid and Germany)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspurs and France)
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City and Morrocco)
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona and Argentina)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid and Croatia)
Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich and Germany)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany)
Neymar (FC Barcelona and Brazil)
Dimitri Payet (West Ham and France)
Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon and Portugal)
Pepe (Real Madrid and Portugal)
Paul Pogba (Manchester United/Juventus and France)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain)
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona and Uruguay)
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City and England)
Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich and Chile)