The full list of nominees for the 2021 Ballon d’Or, an annual football award presented by French news magazine, France Football, has been released with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Harry Kane named.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Ballon d’Or is one of the oldest, and generally regarded as the most prestigious individual award for football players across the globe.
It has been awarded since 1956, but between 2010 and 2015, an agreement was made with the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), and the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (founded in 1991) and known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
However, the partnership ended in 2016, and the award reverted to the Ballon d’Or, while FIFA also reverted to its own separate annual award The Best FIFA Men’s Player. The recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d’Or are considered as winners by both award organisations.
TNG reports five players of reigning European champions, Chelsea are included in the 2021 Ballon d’Or list in the form of Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Romelu Lukaku and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Others who made the shortlist are Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Pedri, Riyad Mahrez, Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Karim Benzema, Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski.
See full Ballon d’Or list below:
- Cesar Azpilicueta
- Nicolo Barella
- Karim Benzema
- Leonard Bonucci
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Giorgio Chiellini
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Ruben Dias
- Gianluigi Donnarumma
- Bruno Fernandes
- Phil Foden
- Erling Haaland
- Harry Kane
- Jorginho
- N’Golo Kante
- Simon Kjaer
- Robert Lewandowski
- Romelu Lukaku
- Riyad Mahrez
- Lautaro Martinez
- Kylian Mbappe
- Lionel Messi
- Luka Modric
- Gerard Moreno
- Mason Mount
- Neymar
- Pedri
- Mohamed Salah
- Raheem Sterling
- Luis Suarez