The 30-man shortlist to win the 2016 Ballon d'Or was revealed over the course of Monday, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both included.
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Ballon d'Or 2016: Lionel Messi and Ronaldo nominated
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will again do battle for the Ballon d'Or, with Luis Suarez and Neymar also in the running.
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After the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards merged in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or, that partnership came to an end this year, allowing both prizes to return to their original formats.
Messi was last year's Ballon d'Or winner and Ronaldo is the odds-on favourite to pick up this year's crown, with Kaka's 2007 win the last time either of the Barcelona and Real Madrid stars did not emerge victorious.
The 30-man shortlist will be the only group of nominations announced and a final three will not emerge prior to the announcement of the winner.
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Here is the final list of 30 players nominated:
- Sergio Aguero (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 Godin (Atletico Madrid and Uruguay)- Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid and France)- Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus and Argentina)- Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United and Sweden)- Andres Iniesta (Barcelona and Spain)- Koke (Atletico Madrid and Spain)- Toni Kroos (Real Madrid and Germany)- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland)- Hugo Lloris (Tottenham and France)- Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City and Algeria)- Luka Modric (Real Madrid and Croatia)- Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)- Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich and Germany)- Neymar (Barcelona and Brazil)- Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany)- Dimitri Payet (West Ham and France)- Pepe (Real Madrid and Portugal)- Paul Pogba (Manchester United and France)- Rui Patricio (Sporting CP and Portugal)- Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain)- Luis Suarez (Barcelona and Uruguay)- Jamie Vardy (Leicester City and England)- Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich and Chile)
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