Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk have been nominated for the 2018/19 UEFA Men's Player of the Year award.
The winner will be named – along with the UEFA Women's Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League positional award winners – during the group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday 29 August. The UEFA Europa League Player of the Season will be announced the following day.
The three-man shortlist
Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
The top goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League and the European Golden Shoe winner picked up his tenth Liga title.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal)
The UEFA Nations League winner and top goalscorer at the finals also scooped his first Serie A title.
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Netherlands)
The final man of the match for the UEFA Champions League winners also reached the UEFA Nations League showpiece.
The rest of the top ten
4 Alisson Becker (Liverpool & Brazil) – 57 points
5 Sadio Mané (Liverpool & Senegal) – 51 points
6 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt) – 49 points
7 Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Real Madrid & Belgium) – 38 points
8= Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax/Juventus & Netherlands) – 27 points
8= Frenkie de Jong (Ajax/Barcelona & Netherlands) – 27 points
10 Raheem Sterling (Manchester City & England) – 12 points
What is the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award?
For this award, players in Europe, irrespective of nationality, have been judged in regard to their performances over the whole season in all competitions – both domestically and internationally – at either club, or national team level.
How were the players shortlisted?
The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48), along with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each of UEFA's member associations.
Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.
UTYG
949
Jus give it to messi and done he deserved it he's the best
Taebimpryz
854
For me Ronaldo
Sirmufty007
586
Pls let boateng decide the winner 😂
Kidcazz
510
Leo Messi in Champions league. Games : 10 Goals: 12 Player of the week: 5 Assists: 3 Quarter finalist:
yinka3497
493
Some people will vote for Ronaldo, some will vote for Van Dijk and some will vote for Messi..... Your comments here don't really matter, stop arguing about who will win..... The winner will be decided eventually, let's just Keep calm and see who wins it.... They all deserved it but only one person will take it home....
Jauabdeilp
353
VVD all the way
Adams7187
314
All of them 3 deserve to win the men's poty they played very well in their own way and made us feel amazing
Unoboy
252
Well I guess Van Dijk has already won this award after lifting that UEFA SUPER CUP yesterday
Kvñg Êmmyštâr
209
What of Origi??? 🤔🤔🤔
rendondo
190
the king VVD is there for the award
lukzlat910
180
Here comes the battle of the fanboys and fangirls even though the actual players aren't fighting over it [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
3mperor_Moore
173
I would genuinely give it to Van Dijk..he deserves it 100%
vatbdilpr
86
I'm just wondering how this year everyone is talking about how 'individual' Messi has been. Every other year its been about team achievement DUE TO the impact of a certain player. So why the double standards here? Is it suddenly unfashionable for a defender to win this award despite his impact in making his team win the highest level of the awards this year with a closely contested home league? I think Van Dijk's contribution is underrated in this era of Ronaldo vs Messi fan boys. Van Dijk deserves the Balon d'or as he's had a phenomenal year. And I'd pick Messi over Ronaldo any day (I'm a big fan of his) but truth has to be told
badaipsy
66
I hope vvd gets it he deserves it but I can't say Messi doesn't deserve this the man has been unreal this season.and how the fuck isn't Bernardo silva in top 10?