UEFA announced on Thursday the final three-man squad for last year's European Footballer of the Year award.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Juventus's top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool star Virgil van Dyke will compete for the prestigious award.
The winner will be announced on August 29 in Monaco, France, during the Champions League and European League draw for the new season.
The Portuguese star, who won the prize in 2014, 2016 and 2017, has not missed the final list of the UEFA prize since its inception in 2011.Don won the Serie A title with Juventus and led his country to the European Championship title.
Messi, who won the award in 2011 and 2015, won the domestic title, lost the King's Cup in the final and won the Golden Shoe award for the top scorer in the top five European leagues, as well as the Champions League top scorer last season.
The newcomer on the final list is defender Virgil van Dijk, who has won the Champions League and European Super Cups.
In the other lists:
- Competition for the best goalkeeper in Europe: Brazilian Alison Becker (Liverpool), French Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) and German Ter Stegen (Barcelona).
- Trio competing for the best defender: the English want Alexander, the Dutch Van Dyck (Liverpool), De Licht (Ajax Amsterdam - Juventus).
Best Midfielder: Dutchman De Jong (Ajax - Barcelona), Danish Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Best striker: Senegal's Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Three women are competing for the European Footballer of the Year award: Lucy Bronze, Norwegian Ada Higerberg and Amandine Henry.
He is competing for last year's European Footballer of the Year award: Frenchman Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Luca Jovic (Eintracht Frankfurt - Real Madrid) and Belgium's Eden Hazard (Chelsea-Real Madrid).