Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal and Mohamed Salah headlined the nominations for the 2025 men's Ballon d'Or.
Dembele has been tipped as the favourite to lift the prestigious individual prize after guiding Paris Saint-Germain to their first Champions League title.
He is joined on the 30-man shortlist by fellow PSG stars Gianluigi Donnarumma, Desire Doue, Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Barcelona also have a strong showing in the nominations, with Yamal accompanied by Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Pedri after their LaLiga, Supercopa de Espana and Copa del Rey treble-triumphs in 2024-25.
There is no place on the shortlist for last year's winner Rodri, though, after he spent most of last season on the sidelines after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
Dembele's fine individual campaign concluded with a Champions League trophy, having starred for PSG in 2024-25, which saw them lift three domestic trophies.
He became the first player to provide two assists in a Champions League final since Marcelo for Real Madrid in 2018, while his 14 goal involvements (eight goals, six assists) is the second-most by a French player in a single season after Karim Benzema in 2021-22 (17).
The 28-year-old recorded 46 goal contributions (33 goals, 13 assists) for Luis Enrique's side across all competitions last campaign and could be just the sixth French player to win the Ballon d'Or, and the first since Benzema in 2022.
However, Yamal has also been another standout player for Barcelona. He plundered 18 goals and registered 21 assists for Hansi Flick's side, while also completing more dribbles (244) than any other player in Europe's top five leagues.
Not to be outdone, though, Yamal's Barcelona team-mate Raphinha has also shone for the Blaugrana. Indeed, across Europe's top five leagues in 2024-25, only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (57) registered more goal involvements than the Brazilian (56).
He also equalled Cristiano Ronaldo's Champions League record from 2013-14 of 21 goal contributions in a single season in the competition. Only eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi (14 in 2011-12) has scored more goals for Barcelona in a single campaign than Raphinha's 13.
Salah, meanwhile, spearheaded Liverpool's charge to the Premier League title in Arne Slot's first season in the Anfield dugout.
The Egyptian tied the record for the most goals and assists combined in a single Premier League campaign, with 47, joining Andrew Cole in 1993-94 and Alan Shearer in 1994-95.
There were eight players in total from LaLiga included in the list, most notably Real Madrid trio Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
Mbappe starred in his debut season in the Spanish capital, becoming the highest-scoring Madrid player in their maiden campaign with the club, surpassing Ivan Zamorano's record of 37 from 1992-93 after finding the back of the net 43 times for Los Blancos in all competitions.
Along with Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister were also nominated from Liverpool's title-winning squad, as well as club-record arrival Florian Wirtz making his way on to the shortlist after another stellar season for Bayer Leverkusen.
Just three players from Serie A were put forward for the Ballon d'Or, one of whom was Napoli's Scott McTominay, who played a starring role in their Scudetto success under Antonio Conte in 2024-25.
In his debut season in Naples, McTominay was involved in 16 goals (scoring 12 and assisting 4) across 34 appearances. In fact, in the last 20 editions of Serie A, only Hernanes matched this total of 16 goal contributions by a midfielder in their first campaign, achieving it in 2010-11.
In addition, since the turn of the century, no Scottish midfielder has netted more times in a single season in the top five European leagues than McTominay's 12, the same number that Charlie Adam managed in the Premier League in 2010-11.
Elsewhere, Emiliano Martinez has the chance to win the Yashin Trophy for the third consecutive year after being nominated for the award that recognises the best goalkeeper.
The Argentine made 156 saves in all competitions in 2024-25. Only Mike Maignan (165) and Mark Flekken (159) made more across Europe's top five leagues.
Martinez is one of four Premier League shot-stoppers nominated for the award, along with Liverpool's Alisson Becker, Arsenal's David Raya and Nottingham Forest's Matz Sels.
Raya and Sels shared the Golden Glove in the top-flight after keeping 13 clean sheets apiece, though they face tough competition from some of Europe's elite goalkeepers.
Champions League finalists Donnarumma and Yann Sommer have also been included in the 10-man shortlist, along with Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois.
Across Europe's top five leagues last season, no goalkeeper kept more clean sheets than Inter's Sommer (21).
Yamal also headlines the Kopa Trophy shortlist, having won the award in 2024 following his sensational displays that led Spain to the European Championships crown.
The award, which is handed to the best player aged under 21, also includes exciting talents Doue, Pau Cubarsi, Dean Huijsen and Myles Lewis-Skelley.
Doue has been tipped to scoop the award after becoming the youngest player to score two or more goals in a European Cup / Champions League final, beating Eusebio's record from 1962.
He also became the sixth different player to both score and assist in a Champions League final, while, at 19 years and 362 days, he's the youngest to complete such a feat.
The women's award - known as the Ballon d'Or Feminin - is unsurprisingly dominated by players belonging to Euros finalists England and Spain.
Both nations have 10 nominations between them, with the Lionesses boasting three members from their squad, including Leah Williamson, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo.
All three of those players helped Arsenal to their second Champions League crown last season, but the Gunners' trio face tough competition from their Spanish counterparts.
Two-time Ballon d'Or winners Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati - the current holder - are among the favourites, with Patri Guijarro and Esther Gonzalez among the other Spanish players to be named on the shortlist.
