France Football magazine has named Egyptian star Mohamed Salah and Algerian captain Riad Mehrez as the Golden Ball award nominees. The Champions League winners Liverpool have dominated the list with seven candidates.
Salah scored his name on the list of candidates thanks to his leading role in leading Liverpool to the Champions League and the title competition until the last round of last season.
Salah was joined by Liverpool teammates Virgil van Dyck, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jorginho Vinaldome and Allison Becker.
The list included the name of the Algerian star Riad Mehrez after leading his country to crown the African Cup of Nations after a successful season with Manchester City during which he dominated all local titles.
Manchester City also included Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero.
The list included Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus and Lionel Messi of Barcelona, who have won the award together 10 times, but Messi's former colleague Neymar, who is currently playing in Paris Saint-Germain, missed the nominations.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Sun Hyung-min and Hugo Lloris were also on the shortlist, but there was no place for their teammate Harry Kane, while Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba was another absentee.
The following is a short list of 30 players: