THE 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or have been announced and FIFA’s best player of the year Luka Modric faces some stiff and extremely familiar competition.

The Croatian is joined by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah, but there are plenty of dark horses who could steal the show.

While the Under 21 shortlist has a clear favourite, the amount of quality between the women’s nominees mean that accolade could belong to anyone.

HERE ARE FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS FOR THE 2018 BALLON D’OR SHORTLIST…

WHO ARE THE FAVOURITES?
The FIFA best player of the year award last month meant the end of an era dominated by the Ronaldo and Lionel Messi rivalry.

World Cup runner-up Modric beat the Juventus ace and Liverpool’s Salah to win the prize after Lionel Messi was surprisingly left off the final three-man list.

But that doesn’t mean he’s destined to take out this accolade too - after all, the winner is decided by a ballot of journalists from around the world this time.

Nonetheless, Modric does remain the favourite after his heroics in Russia and his stellar season with Real Madrid where he won the Champions League.

“For what he did with both Real Madrid and with his national team, he deserves the Ballon D’Or,” said Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco.

“To bring Croatia to the World Cup final, was an exceptional feature.”

Portuguese superstar Ronaldo and Egyptian hero Salah are hot on the tail of Modric and all three appear to be on level pegging when it comes to taking home the honour.

But it would be a fool’s errand to dismiss the great Messi -- he’s in search of his record sixth Ballon D’Or title along with Ronaldo.

There’s definitely a few notable absentees from the 30-man shortlist, with Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, Real midfielder Toni Kroos, Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea and Munich striker Robert Lewandowski all left out.

Many will ask how on earth Karim Benzema made the cut, when the Frenchman scored just five goals in 32 appearances for Real last season!

Yet consistent performers like Leonardo Bonucci, Andres Iniesta, Gianluigi Buffon and Philippe Coutinho were also left out of the running for this year’s award.

With the amount of talent packed into world football at the moment, some of Europe’s finest talents are bound to miss out, but this handful of stars are desperately unlucky to get snubbed.

The biggest omission of the lot has to be Dani Alves though - the PSG ace was named in the FIFA FIFPro World11 team for 2018!

There’s a clear favourite when it comes to the Kopa Trophy.

Kylian Mbappe, who is also nominated for the senior honour, looks destined to take home the accolade this year.

Following his successful season with PSG where they were crowned Ligue 1 champions in 2017/18, the $224.5million teenager then travelled to Russia with France and won the World Cup.

Mbappe is achieving things a 19-year-old shouldn’t and his trophy cabinet is looking pretty full for a person of his age.

The nippy forward is the clear frontrunner although Borussia Dortmund starlet Christian Pulisic and AC Milan shot stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma could come close.

20-year-old Liverpool sensation Trent Alexander-Arnold was breakthrough star for the Reds last season and his brilliant performances have landed him a spot on this 10-man shortlist.

With a Champions League final and a World Cup appearance to his name, the right-back could fill the criteria for this award.

WHO’S LIKELY TO CLAIM THE WOMEN’S AWARD?
Matildas superstar Sam Kerr has been shortlisted for the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or award.

The prestigious prize, which has been awarded to the best male player in the world by France Football magazine since 1956, is recognising women players for the first time this year.

Kerr was controversially snubbed for FIFA’s world Player of the Year award but her inspiring form for both club and country has been recognised this time as she makes the 15-woman shortlist.

Although the Matildas’ most recognisable player has been overlooked in the past for major honours, but this could be her moment where she’s finally acknowledged for her world class ability.

She faces some stiff competition from Brazilian star Marta, American Megan Rapinoe, Norway’s Ada Hegerberg and German international Dzsenifer Marozsan.
This one could go down to the wire.

The awards will be presented in Paris on December 3.

NOMINEES
Sergio Aguero - Manchester City

Alisson - Liverpool

Gareth Bale - Real Madrid

Karim Benzema - Real Madrid

Kevin de Bruyne - Manchester City

Edinson Cavani - Paris St-Germain

Thibaut Courtois - Real Madrid

Roberto Firmino - Liverpool

Diego Godin - Atletico Madrid

Antoine Griezmann - Atletico Madrid

Eden Hazard - Chelsea

Isco - Real Madrid

Harry Kane - Tottenham

N’Golo Kante - Chelsea

Hugo Lloris - Tottenham

Mario Mandzukic - Juventus

Sadio Mane - Liverpool

Marcelo - Real Madrid

Kylian Mbappe - Paris St-Germain

Lionel Messi - Barcelona

Luka Modric - Real Madrid

Neymar - Paris St-Germain

Jan Oblak - Atletico Madrid

Paul Pogba - Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo - Juventus

Ivan Rakitic - Barcelona

Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid

Mohamed Salah - Liverpool

Luis Suarez - Barcelona

Raphael Varane - Real Madrid

NOMINEES BY LEAGUES
La Liga - 14

Premier League - 11

Ligue 1 - 3

Serie A - 2

KOPA TROPHY NOMINEES
Houssem Aouar - Lyon/France U21

Trent Alexander-Arnold - Liverpool/England

Patrick Cutrone - AC Milan/Italy

Ritsu Doan - FC Groningen/Japan

Gianluigi Donnarumma - AC Milan/Italy

Amadou Haidara - RB Salzburg/Mali

Justin Kluivert - Roma/Netherlands

Kylian Mbappe - PSG/ France

Christian Pulisic - Borussia Dortmund/USA

Rodrygo - Santos/Brazil U20

WOMEN’S BALLON D’OR NOMINEES
Lucy Bronze - England

Pernille Harder - Denmark

Ada Hegerberg - Norway

Amandine Henry - France

Lindsey Horan - USA

Sam Kerr - Australia

Fran Kirby - England

Saki Kumagai - Japan

Amel Majri - France

Dzsenifer Maroszan - Germany

Marta - Brazil

Lieke Martens - Netherlands

Megan Rapinoe - USA

Wendie Renard - France

Christine Sinclair - Canada