FC Barcelona's MSN trident among the 30 nominees for Ballon d'Or 2016

FC Barcelona's MSN trident among the 30 nominees for Ballon d'Or 2016

Most imagine it will go down to a Messi-Ronaldo shoot-out but Antoine Griezmann has arguments to win it this year too

The process for the Ballon d’Or 2016 is underway. France Football are publishing the list of 30 players who could win the trophy. 

In the end Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or 2015 and Cristiano Ronaldo is aiming to win it back after his triumphs with Portugal and Real Madrid in Euro 2016 and the Champions League respectively. 

On form, there can only be one winner and that is Lionel Mess, but we will see how the votes go. These are the 30 nominees: 

1. Sergio Kun Agüero (Manchester City)

2. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund)

3. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)

4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

6. Paulo Dybala (Juventus)

7. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

8. Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid)

9. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid)

10.  Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus)

11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)

12. Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona)

13. Koke (Atlético Madrid)

14. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)

15. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Múnich)

16. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)

17. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)

18. Leo Messi (FC Barcelona)

19. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

20. Thomas Müller (Bayern de Múnich)

21. Manuel Neuer (Bayern de Múnich)

22. Neymar (FC Barcelona)

23. Dimitri Payet (West Ham)

24. Pepe (Real Madrid)

25. Paul Pogba (Manchester United)

26. Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)

27. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

28. Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

29. Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)

30. Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich)