MOSCOW, 12 Aug. The first ten contenders for France Football's Ballon d'Or have been named, according to the award's Twitter page. Egypt, Liverpool), Rafael Leau (Portugal, Milan), Christopher Nkunku (France, Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Germany, Bayern).
Second top five: Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Barcelona), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England, Liverpool), Vinicius Junior (Brazil, Real Madrid), Luis Diaz (Colombia, Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal, Manchester City) .
Other contenders included: Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid), Fabinho (Brazil, Liverpool), Son Heung-min (South Korea, Tottenham), Casemiro (Brazil, Real Madrid), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) , Manchester City), Mike Maignan (France, Milan), Harry Kane (England, Tottenham), Darwin Nunez (Uruguay, Liverpool), Phil Foden (England, Manchester City), Sadio Mane (Senegal, Bayern Munich), Sebastien Aller (Ivory Coast, Borussia Dortmund), Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid), Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Manchester United»), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City), Dusan Vlahovic (Serbia, Juventus), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands, Liverpool), Joao Cancelo (Portugal, Manchester City), Kylian Mbappe (France, Paris Saint-Germain), Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City).
For the first time, the award will be presented following the results of the completed season, and not the calendar year.The solemn ceremony will take place on October 17 in Paris. Last year, the striker received the prize Paris Saint-Germain and the Argentina national team Lionel Messi.
The Ballon d'Or was established by France Football in 1956 as a prize for the best footballer of the year in Europe (based on the opinions of a group of sports journalists). In 2010, FIFA and France Football announced the merger of the Ballon d'Or and FIFA Player of the Year awards (determined based on the vote of the captains and coaches of the national teams). In September 2016, France Football announced the end of its partnership with FIFA and returned to the original system for determining the best player of the year.