Harry Kane among seven Premier League stars on Ballon d'Or shortlist, no Paul Pogba

The Ballon d'Or, which merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award from 2010-15 to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or, returned to France Football magazine this year having been established in 1956, and the French weekly magazine opted to stagger the announcement in batches of five.

Kante was the first Premier League nomination, and was soon joined by Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane, Manchester United's David de Gea, Tottenham's Harry Kane, Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne and Chelsea's Eden Hazard.

2017’s breakout star Kylian Mbappe joined Real Madrid pair Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco in the final wave of nominees. In fact, the 32-year-old Ronaldo, who helped Real win the Champions League and La Liga last season, is one of seven Real players on the list - the most from any team.

Unsurprisingly Brazil superstar Neymar was also nominated following a stellar start to his PSG career, and was joined on the list by former team-mates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

Ligue 1 has four representatives on the shortlist, with Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao joining the aforementioned Mbappe and Neymar on the 30-man shortlist following prolific seasons for both in Europe and France.

It marks quite the turnaround for Falcao who returned to Monaco last year with a reputation diminished following two fallow years in the Premier League but helped propel them to the Champions League semi-final and a first league since 2000.

There were a few notable absentees, with Gareth Bale, Sergio Aguero, Andres Iniesta, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Gonzalo Higuain and Paul Pogba all missing out.

Neymar (PSG/Brazil), Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia), Paulo Dybala (Juventus/Argentina), Marcelo (Real Madrid/Brazil), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea/France), Luis Suarez (Barcelona/Uruguay), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid/Slovenia), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool/Brazil), Dries Mertens (Napoli/Belgium), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Poland), David De Gea (Manchester United/Spain), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/England), Edin Dzeko (Roma/Bosnia & Herzegovina), Sadio Mane (Liverpool/Sengal), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid/France), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid/Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus/Italy) and Radamel Falcao (Monaco/Colombia), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund/Germany), Edinson Cavani (PSG/Uruguay), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich/Germany), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal), Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Belgium), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan/Italy), Isco (Real Madrid,Spain), Kylian Mbappe (PSG/France).