Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland & Kevin De Bruyne nominated for UEFA Men's Player of the Year award
- Messi, Haaland & De Bruyne are all up for the award
- Last year's winner, Karim Benzema, failed to receive a single vote
- Messi could match Cristiano Ronaldo's record of three wins
By Tom Gott
UEFA have named the three finalists in the voting for the Men's Player of the Year award: Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
An initial shortlist was put together by a UEFA study group and was then put to every manager of a club who took part in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League as well as national team managers of UEFA's member countries.
A select group of journalists were also invited to vote.
Coming out on top of the pile were Messi, Haaland and De Bruyne, who will do battle to take home the trophy on 31 August.
Of the trio, Messi is the only player to have won the award previously, doing so in 2011 and 2015. Should he win here, he would match the record three wins of Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Other players to receive votes
4. Ilkay Gundogan (Germany & Manchester City, now at Barcelona)
5. Rodri (Spain & Manchester City)
6. Kylian Mbappe (France & Paris Saint-Germain)
7. Luka Modric (Croatia & Real Madrid)
8. Marcelo Brozovic (Croatia & Inter, now at Al Nassr)
9. Declan Rice (England & West Ham, now at Arsenal)
10. Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina & Brighton, now at Liverpool)
11. Jesus Navas (Spain & Sevilla)
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