The winner will be announced on 2 December, but before then the nominees will have a chance to bask in the limelight and enjoy being named among the world's top 30 footballers by the staff of France Football, the magazine that founded the award back in 1956.

The list of nominees is a star-studded affair, with usual suspects Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the mix, but they will have to fend off competition from France's wonderboy Kylian Mbappé, who earned his third nomination despite still being just 20 years of age.

The World Cup-winning Frenchman is also up against club-mate Marquinhos, whose conversion into a defensive utility who can play in the centre of defence or in a holding midfield role has seen his cachet rise steeply, as did his winning the Copa America with Brazil.

The 30 nominees for the 2019 Ballon d'Or
Sadio Mané (Liverpool/SEN)
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/ARG)
Frenkie de Jong (Ajax then FC Barcelona/NED)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham/FRA)
Dusan Tadic (Ajax/SRB)

Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/ENG)
Donny van de Beek (Ajax/PBS)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal/ATM)
Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona/GER)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/POR)
Alisson Becker (Liverpool/BRA)
Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax then Juventus/PBS)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/FRA)
Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool/PBS)

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/PBS)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City/POR)
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham/CDS)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/POL)
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool/BRA)

Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona/ARG)
Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City/ALG)
Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City/BEL)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Naples/SEN)
Antoine Griezmann (Atletico then Barcelona/FRA)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/EGY)
Eden Hazard (Chelsea then Real Madrid/BEL)
Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain/BRA)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City/ENG)
Joao Felix (Benfica then Atletico/POR)