Ballon d'Or 2019 : with Messi, Van Dijk and Ronaldo up for prize

The 2019 Ballon d'Or will be the 64th annual ceremony of

 the Ballon d'Or, presented by France Football, and recognising the best footballer in the world for 2019. The  winner will be announced in Paris on 2 December 2019

> The nominees for the awards were announced on 6 November 2019 :

      

> the big 3 expected : 

Lionel Messi is the overwhelming favourite to win a sixth Ballon d'Or at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris tonight

The Barcelona star leads a 30-man shortlist, with Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo expected to finish on the podium. There is no place for last year's winner Luka Modric, though his Real Madrid team-mates Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard are in the running.  

Van Dijk is one of seven names from Liverpool, while Manchester City have five nomineees, Tottenham two and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the sole representative from Arsenal. 

> When is the Ballon d'Or ?

The ceremony is set to take place on Monday, December 2 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. The red carpet will begin from 4pm UK time with the ceremony set to start at 7.30pm.

Luka Modric was the winner last year to become the first person in a decade other than Messi or Ronaldo to be recognised as the world's best player by France Football.

Liverpool star Van Dijk was heavily tipped to extend the dominant pair's fallow period after his heroics in the Premier League and Champions League, though it has since been reported that Messi is in line for another milestone individual triumph.

Van Dijk was crowned Uefa Player of the Year in August, with Messi named Fifa's The Best Men's Player the following month. Will Ronaldo end the year empty-handed?

> The 2019 Ballon d'Or contenders : 

Cristiano Ronaldo

After nine years at Real Madrid, Ronaldo moved to Juventus last summer in a deal worth £100million looking for a new challenge at the age of 33 and was named Serie A's most valuable player 10 months later after winning the Scudetto.

Ronaldo finished as club's top scorer in every domestic competition he competed in before leading Portugal to Uefa Nations League glory over the summer.

The forward scored a hat-trick in the semi-final win over Switzerland before captaining the final win over Netherlands in Porto.

 Virgil van Dijk

Van Dijk is widely regarded as the best centre-back in the world, with the eyebrow-raising £75m price Liverpool for him in January 2018 now considered a bargain.

Liverpool have been transformed from a vulnerable defence to among the best in Europe, culminating with their Champions League triumph in June of this year after finishing as runners-up 12 months prior.

Such is his calmness in possession, Van Dijk went 50 games without being dribbled past between March 2018 and August 2019, which was key to the Reds' agonising finish as runners-up behind Manchester City in the Premier League after winning 97 points.

Lionel Messi

Messi has another 12 months to celebrate but again found the game's top prizes out of his reach. Barcelona won La Liga once again as Messi was the top scorer across Europe and provided the most assists in Spain's top flight.

However, a semi-final second-leg collapse at Anfield saw Barca miss out in the Champions League once again as Liverpool scored 4-0 to seal a remarkable 4-3 aggregate win.

On the international stage, Messi suffered another semi-final exit as Argentina lost 2-0 to Brazil in the Copa America in July before beating Chile in the third-place play-off.