FIFA have announced their official 24-man shortlist for The Best Men's Player of the Year award, which includes one African.
Tired of reading? Click through the above gallery to see all 24 nominees.
A panel of FIFA legends, including Cafu, Diego Maradona, Carles Puyol and Jay-Jay Okocha, among others, compiled the initial 24-man shortlist.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the big favourite to lift the award after leading Real Madrid to the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles as well as the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in 2016/17. The Portuguese will again be up against his biggest rivals Lionel Messi and Neymar, who completed the podium last year.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the only African among the 24 nominees, who were announced by FIFA on Thursday afternoon. The Gabon and Borussia Dortmund striker netted 40 goals in all competitions for his club and beat Robert Lewandowski, who is also among the nominees, to the top goalscorer in the Bundesliga.
Champions League winners Real have seven players of their UCL final starting line-up among the candidates, namely: Keylor Navas, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Ronaldo.
Gianluigi Buffon, Paulo Dybala and Leonardo Bonucci, who has since moved to AC Milan, are the three nominees from Los Blancos' final opponents Juventus.
Overall, there are 11 La Liga stars, five Premier League players, four Bundesliga starters, three Serie A professionals and one Ligue 1 superstar among the nominees.
From the shortlist, four voting groups – national coaches, national captains, a select group of journalists, and fans who can cast their vote on FIFA's website from 21 August – will vote for their three favourites. Each of these voting groups account for 25% of the final ranking. The voting closes on 7 September and the three final candidates will be announced in mid-September.
Ronaldo won the award, which is the successor to the FIFA Ballon d'Or after joint organisers FIFA and France Football split up last year*, in three of the past four years.
Overall, Lionel Messi, with five awards, still has one more than Ronaldo, but the Portuguese could equal his biggest rival this year.
Read: 12 Nominees For FIFA World Coach Of The Year Announced
*Note: France Football's award, the well-known Ballon d'Or, will be announced in December.
Click through the gallery above to see all 24 nominees and let us know who you think deserves to be FIFA The Best Men's Player of the Year?
