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 title in world football this year.

The first and second places in the Ballon d'Or 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 the Ballon d'Or for the fourth time later this year, because last summer, the 31-year-old striker won the Champions League with Real and won 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 are one of two clubs with the second highest number of candidates, with four players: Messi, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Bayern Munich also have four candidates: Robert Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Arturo Vidal.

Other representatives such as Koke, Suarez and Godin... help La Liga become the tournament with the most candidates in this year's Ballon d'Or 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.

Manchester United were a huge disappointment last season, but they also have two nominees this year. 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. Manchester City also have two nominees, 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 a first-time nominee, 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, thanks to his impressive form in helping Tottenham finish third in the Premier League last season and helping France to the runner-up spot at Euro 2016.

This year, France Football magazine took back the Ballon d'Or voting rights, after six years of FIFA conducting a unified award called the FIFA Ballon d'Or. As a result, the 2016 award returned to its old format - with only sports journalists invited to vote. Previously, the Ballon d'Or vote was determined by votes from three groups: national team coaches, national team captains, and international media representatives.

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

According to VNE