Six-time winner Lionel Messi has failed to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or for the first time in 17 years.
France Football, the organisers of the most prestigious individual honour in football, announced the 30-man shortlist on Friday, and Messi missed the grade for the first time since 2005.
Long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo did make the cut, but Messi’s tough spell - by his high standards - at Paris Saint-German appear to have coincided with the previously unthinkable. Neymar, a team-mate at PSG, also missed out.
Premier League players dominate the shortlist, making up 15 of the 30 nominees. English trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden and Harry Kane are included.
Foden is one of six Manchester City players on the list including new signing Erling Haaland while Liverpool quintet Mohamed Salah, Luiz Diaz, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunez - as well as the recently departed Sadio Mane - are also included.
Son Heung-min joins his strike partner Harry Kane, while the favourite to win for the first time is Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.
The full shortlist, in alphabetical order, is below:
- Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Karim Benzema
- Joao Cancelo
- Casemiro
- Thibaut Courtois
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Luis Diaz
- Fabinho
- Phil Foden
- Erling Haaland
- Sebastien Haller
- Harry Kane
- Joshua Kimmich
- Rafael Leao
- Robert Lewandowski
- Riyad Mahrez
- Mike Maignan
- Sadio Mane
- Kylian Mbappe
- Luka Modric
- Christopher Nkunku
- Darwin Nunez
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Antonio Rudiger
- Mohamed Salah
- Bernardo Silva
- Heung-Min Son
- Virgil van Dijk
- Vinicius Jr
- Dusan Vlahovic
