– Premier League trio Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Dimitri Payet have been nominated
– Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon is the only player nominated from the Italian Serie A
– The award is based on fan voting, voting by national team captains and 200 media representatives FIFA has released a shortlist of 23 candidates drawn up by experts from the FIFA Football Committee that will vie for the Player of the Year award.
The award’s are separate from the Ballon D’or after FIFA and France football announced a split.
Voting for player and coach of the year in 2016, in both men’s and women’s football, starts today and closes on 22 November.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the front runners for the award with Neymar, Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann and Gareth Bale having outside chances.
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