Antoine Griezmann and Gianluigi Buffon have joined the likes of Neymar and Luis Suarez as nominees for the 2017 Ballon d'Or award, with the first 20 candidates released.
Juventus forward Paulo Dybala and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric also feature, with France Football releasing the full 30-man list in batches over the course of October 9.
Neymar has been recognised following an eventful year that has seen the Brazil star impress for both his national team and Barcelona, before his world-record summer transfer to PSG.
The list of 2017 Ballon d'Or nominees will be shown below, and will be updated as more announcements are made through the day...
| Player | Teams |
|---|---|
| Neymar | PSG & Brazil |
| Luka Modric | Real Madrid & Croatia |
| Paulo Dybala | Juventus & Argentina |
| Marcelo | Real Madrid & Brazil |
| N'Golo Kante | Chelsea & France |
| Luis Suarez | Barcelona & Uruguay |
| Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid & Spain |
| Jan Oblak | Atletico Madrid & Slovenia |
| Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool & Brazil |
| Dries Mertens | Napoli & Belgium |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City & Belgium |
| Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich & Poland |
| David de Gea | Manchester United & Spain |
| Harry Kane | Tottenham & England |
| Edin Dzeko | Roma & Bosnia-Herzegovina |
| Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid & France |
| Gianluigi Buffon | Juventus & Italy |
| Radamel Falcao | Monaco & Colombia |
| Sadio Mane | Liverpool & Senegal |
| Toni Kroos | Real Madrid & Germany |
WHAT IS THE BALLON D'OR?
The Ballon d'Or (French for 'Golden Ball') is an annual individual award which is given to the footballer who is deemed to have performed the best during the previous year.
The accolade is presented by the football magazine France Football and it first appeared in 1956, when it was popularly known as the European Footballer of the Year award due to the fact that it was initially restricted to European players. In 1995, it expanded to include players of any nationality at European clubs before being adapted to include all players from around the world in 2007.
The Ballon d'Or was initially distinct from FIFA's World Player of the Year award, but the two merged in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or. However, that merger lasted just five years and the Ballon d'Or became separate from FIFA again in 2016, with the world governing body subsequently creating the new 'The Best' awards series.
