Football: 2019 Ballon d'Or shortlist unveiled

ANKARA

French sports magazine France Football announced late Monday the nominees for the Ballon d'Or 2019.

The award will name the best male footballer of the world in 2019.

The English club Liverpool joined the list with seven players: Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Five players from Manchester City of British top-tier football league were also among 30 candidates, namely Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, and Riyad Mahrez.

Crowned with last year's award, Real Madrid's midfielder Luka Modric couldn’t find a spot in the award shortlist.

Five-time winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the nominees of the 2019 Ballon d'Or, as well.

Here is the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or 2019:

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)

Alisson (Liverpool)

Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)

Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)

Dusan Tadic (Ajax)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)

Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Donny van de Beek (Ajax)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)

Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)

Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)

Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona)

Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Marquinhos (PSG)

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid)