Germany national team players Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller (both of Bayern München) have been included in the 30-man list of nominees for the 2016 World Player of the Year award. Bundesliga stars Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Robert Lewandowski and Arturo Vidal (both of Bayern München) also made it on the shortlist, which French football magazine France Football published today.
It’s the first time since 2009 that the award has been organized soley by France Football, without any help from FIFA. The favourites for this year’s trophy are again Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), who have been the only winners of the award since 2008. The Portuguese has had the honour of winning it on three occasions, while the Argentine Messi has won it an incredible five times. The current holders of the Champions League, Real Madrid, provide the most players to the shortlist (5), just ahead of Barcelona and Bayern München (4).
The complete 30-man shortlist:
Manuel Neuer (Bayern München)
Thomas Müller (Bayern München)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern München)
Arturo Vidal (Bayern München)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Neyma (FC Barcelona)
Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
Luis Suarez (FC Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Pepe (Real Madrid)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Diego Godin (Atlético Madrid)
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid)
Koke (Atlético Madrid)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Paulo Dybala (Juventus)
Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Sergio Agüero (Manchester City)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)
Paul Pogba (Manchester United)
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City)
Dimitri Payet (West Ham United)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur)
Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)
