Ballon d'Or nomination date announced

Current holder Cristiano Ronaldo will find out who he is up against later this month as he hopes to win the award, now run by Fifa, for the third time in his career

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and the rest of the world's elite footballers will find out whether they are in the running for the Ballon d'Or when the nominations are

announced on Tuesday October 28.

The Ballon d'Or is arguably the most prestigious individual award available to footballers and is currently held by Real Madrid's Ronaldo, ending a run of four straight years in which Messi came out on top.

The actual ceremony will not take place until mid-January but world football's governing body has revealed that supporters across the globe can get a taste of who the final three fighting for the award might be when they name the nominees at the end of the month.

"A 23-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or will be compiled by the Fifa Football Committee and a group of experts from France Football," a statement from Fifa read on Thursday. "It will be announced on October 28.

"This list will be reduced to three players, being announced at a later stage. From the final shortlists, journalists, national coaches and captains will vote for the winner of the Ballon d’Or.

"The winners of all of the awards will be revealed at the Fifa Ballon d’Or gala as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 12, 2015."

The Ballon d'Or has been a Fifa-branded award since 2010 when it merged with the organisation's World Player of the Year but, prior to that, had been a prestigious accolade organised by French news outletFrance Football since 1956.

Past winners of the Ballon d'Or include Alfredo Di Stefano, Eusebio, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Kaka and Zinedine Zidane. The only non-Barcelona or Real Madrid player to be named in the final trio since the Fifa merge for 2010's edition is Franck Ribery.

Major competitors for holder Ronaldo are expected to be Barca duo Messi and Neymar, World Cup winners Manuel Neuer and Philipp Lahm, and the German duo's Bayern Munich team-mate Arjen Robben.