Ronaldo, Messi lead the list of Golden Ball candidates

France Football magazine has just announced the names of 30 players nominated for the 2016 Ballon d'Or award.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo continue to be considered the two most promising candidates in the vote for the most prestigious individual award in world football this year.

The first and second places in the Golden Ball voting for the past five years have belonged to two superstars from Barca and Real Madrid, with the 29-year-old Argentine striker winning the award three times.

Ronaldo and Messi are still the strongest candidates for the most prestigious individual award of the year in world football.

Messi has won the award five times in total. In the 2015-16 season, he helped Barca win La Liga. But Ronaldo is considered likely to win his fourth Ballon d'Or later this year, because last summer the 31-year-old striker won the Champions League with Real and Euro 2016 with Portugal. Ronaldo's status as the number one candidate would be more solid if he did not decline in scoring efficiency at the beginning of this season.

With the presence of Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos and Pepe, the reigning Champions League champions Real Madrid dominate with a total of six candidates.

Barca is one of two clubs with the second highest number of candidates, with four players including Messi, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Bayern Munich also has four candidates: Robert Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Arturo Vidal.

Other representatives such as Koke, Suarez and Godin... help La Liga become the league with the most candidates in this year's Golden Ball vote.

Next is Atletico Madrid, with three candidates including Antoine Griezmann (Euro 2016 top scorer for France), Koke and Diego Godin. Juventus also has three representatives: Paulo Dybala, Gianluigi Buffon and Gonzalo Higuain.

Man Utd were a huge disappointment last season, but they also have two candidates for this year's vote. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is on the list thanks to his part in PSG winning the domestic treble last season. Meanwhile, the world's most expensive player Pogba won Serie A with Juventus last season, and was part of the France team that finished runners-up at Euro 2016. Man City also have two candidates: striker Sergio Aguero and winger Kevin De Bruyne.

Leicester City playmaker Riyad Mahrez is among the nominees, having been the Premier League's brightest star last season. Striker Jamie Vardy is also on the shortlist for the first time, having been Leicester's top scorer last season.

Mahrez and Vardy were included thanks to their achievements in helping Leicester City win the Premier League last season.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was nominated for his impressive form in helping Tottenham finish third in the Premier League last season and helping France reach Euro 2016 runners-up.

This year, France Football magazine took back the right to organize the Ballon d'Or vote, after six years of FIFA conducting the unified award called the FIFA Ballon d'Or. Therefore, the 2016 award returned to the old format - only sports journalists were invited to vote. In the past, the Ballon d'Or vote was determined by the votes of three groups: national team coaches, national team captains, and international media representatives.

This year's list of nominees has increased from 23 to 30, and will not be narrowed down to three as before. France Football will announce the results and award the prize on December 13.

According to VNE