It’s time to crown the best player in men’s football for 2019.
In a glittering ceremony in Paris on Monday, the winner of this year’s Men’s Ballon d’Or will be announced, with Liverpool defensive rock Virgil van Dijk the favourite to be the first defender to take the honour in 13 years.
The Premier League is heavily stocked, boasting 15 of the 30-man shortlist. But who is in contention?
Last year’s winner Luka Modric – the only winner in the past 11 years not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo – did not make the cut.
Both Messi and Ronaldo are very much in the running, having won it a joint-record five times each already.
Messi has already won the Best Fifa Men’s award in 2019, while Van Dijk was Uefa’s Men’s Player of the Year – victory for Ronaldo on Monday would see the three biggest prizes in men’s football going to three different players for the first time.
