Ballon d'Or season is in full swing, and the nominations have been revealed!

It is 10 years since Juventus attacker Cristiano Ronaldo first won the award, marking the start of an unprecedented duopoly between the Portuguese and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

The last winner outside of the superhuman pair is Kaka, the Brazilian playmaker who won the prize in 2007.

Defender Fabio Cannavaro was victorious in 2006, while Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko and Pavel Nedved were successful in 2005, 2004 and 2003 respectively.

The last English winner was Michael Owen in 2001, but Ronaldo and Messi have established a stunning stranglehold, winning five each.

Only Michel Platini, Johann Cruyff and Marco van Basten have won three of the awards, while Germany duo Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Brazil's Ronaldo, Spain's Alfredo Di Stefano and England's Kevin Keegan have won two apiece.

It remains to be seen, however, if Ronaldo or Messi will be successful again this year, after Luka Modric won the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award.

The shortlist:

2018 Ballon d'Or nominees
	Position	Country	Club
Sergio Aguero	Forward	Argentina	Manchester City
Alisson	Goalkeeper	Brazil	Liverpool
Gareth Bale	Forward	Wales	Real Madrid
Karim Benzema	Forward	France	Real Madrid
Kevin de Bruyne	Midfielder	Belgium	Manchester City
Edinson Cavani	Forward	Uruguay	Paris St-Germain
Thibaut Courtois	Goalkeeper	Belgium	Real Madrid
Roberto Firmino	Forward	Brazil	Liverpool
Diego Godin	Defender	Uruguay	Atletico Madrid
Antoine Griezmann	Forward	France	Atletico Madrid
Eden Hazard	Forward	Belgium	Chelsea
Isco	Midfielder	Spain	Real Madrid
Harry Kane	Forward	England	Tottenham
N'Golo Kante	Midfielder	France	Chelsea
Hugo Lloris	Goalkeeper	France	Tottenham
Mario Mandzukic	Forward	Croatia	Juventus
Sadio Mane	Forward	Senegal	Liverpool
Marcelo	Defender	Brazil	Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappe	Forward	France	Paris St-Germain
Lionel Messi	Forward	Argentina	Barcelona
Luka Modric	Midfielder	Croatia	Real Madrid
Neymar	Forward	Brazil	Paris St-Germain
Jan Oblak	Goalkeeper	Slovenia	Atletico Madrid
Paul Pogba	Midfielder	France	Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo	Forward	Portugal	Juventus
Ivan Rakitic	Midfielder	Croatia	Barcelona
Sergio Ramos	Defender	Spain	Real Madrid
Mohamed Salah	Midfielder	Egypt	Liverpool
Luis Suarez	Forward	Uruguay	Barcelona
Raphael Varane	Defender	France	Real Madrid

What is the Ballon d'Or?

The Ballon d'Or has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956, with former England international Sir Stanley Matthews the first winner.

The list is compiled by the editorial staff of the French publication, with the winner voted for by journalists from around the world, with one representative per nation.

For six years it combined with world football's governing body to become the Fifa Ballon d'Or.

However, Fifa ended its association with the award in September 2016.

At Fifa's awards in September, Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric was named the world's best male player, while Brazil and Orlando Pride forward Marta won the best female player award.