• England striker one of eight Premier League players in contention • Gareth Bale, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo among the favourites

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Jamie Vardy has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or award alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale after helping Leicester win the Premier League title.

The 29-year-old striker, who scored 24 goals in a historic season for the Foxes, was named on a 30-man list of nominees for the prestigious award – currently held by Barcelona’s Messi – alongside his team-mate Riyad Mahrez.

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France Football, the sole organisers of the prize given to the best footballer in the world following a split from Fifa, revealed Vardy was in contention in a tweet published on Monday evening.

The Sheffield-born player is the only Englishman nominated, while Real Madrid’s Bale represents Wales after his heroics at Euro 2016. In total, eight Premier League players have been nominated.

Manchester City and city rivals United will hope Sergio Agüero, Kevin De Bruyne, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba threaten the top three when journalists begin the next round of voting, while West Ham’s free-kick specialist Dimitri Payet and the Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris are also contenders.

Regular victors Messi and Ronaldo – the latter having endured a lean year by his usual prolific standards – will face stiff competition from Luis Suárez, Neymar and Robert Lewandowski.

Breakthrough stars Paulo Dybala, Antoine Griezmann and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will provide further cause for concern to the world game’s established top order.

Among the surprise omissions from the list are the Manchester United keeper David de Gea, Arsenal’s playmaker Mesut Özil and the Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci.

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Ballon d’Or nominations

Sergio Agüero (Manchester City); Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund); Gareth Bale (Real Madrid); Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus); Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid); Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City); Paulo Dybala (Juventus); Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid); Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid); Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus); Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United); Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona); Koke (Atlético Madrid); Toni Kroos (Real Madrid); Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich); Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur); Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City); Lionel Messi (Barcelona); Luka Modric (Real Madrid); Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich); Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Neymar (Barcelona); Dimitri Payet (West Ham United); Pepe (Real Madrid); Paul Pogba (Manchester United); Rui Patrício (Sporting); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid); Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona); Jamie Vardy (Leicester City); Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich)