Ballon d’Or winner to be announced today, Salah, Mane only African players nominated
The 2018 Ballon d’Or winner will be announced tonight at a ceremony in the French capital Paris, picked from a list of 30 footballers.
Real Madrid’s Croatian international Luka Modric will be among 28 footballers from around the world who will be hoping to break the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi dominance of the awards.
The Ballon d’Or has been awarded to either Ronaldo or Messi for the past 10 years.
Both the Portuguese and the Argentine have won the award five times each, a joint record.
Following his heroics at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in June, Modric beat both Ronaldo and Messi to win the FIFA Best Men’s Player award.
He is seen as a serious contender for the Ballon d’Or, having helped Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions League title, before leading Croatia to second place at the World Cup.
Liverpool’s due of Egyptian Mohamed Salah and Senegalese Sadio Mane are the only African players to have made it into the list after his incredible debut season with the Merseysiders.
While Egypt did not perform well at the World Cup, Salah led Liverpool to fourth place in the Premier League and second place in the Champions League. He scored 44 times in all competitions, and clinched the Premier League Golden Boot award with 34 League goals.
Mane on the other hand made 42 appearances for Liverpool in the 2017/18 season, scoring 20 times.
Here’s the full list of the 2018 Ballon d’Or nominees;
Goalkeepers
Alisson Becker (Roma/Liverpool/BRA), Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea/Real Madrid/BEL), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur/FRA), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid/SLO)
Defenders
Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid/URU), Marcelo (Real Madrid/BRA), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/ESP), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid/FRA)
Midfielders
Luka Modric (Real Madrid/CRO), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea/FRA), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/BEL), Isco (Real Madrid/ESP), Paul Pogba (Manchester United/FRA), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona/CRO)
Forwards
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/ARG), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/WAL), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/FRA), Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain/URU), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus/POR), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool/BRA), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid/FRA), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/BEL), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG), Mario Mandzukic (Juventus/CRO), Sadio Mane (Liverpool/SEN), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ARG), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain/BRA), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/EGY), Luis Suarez (Barcelona/URU).
