LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo will go head to head with former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric and Egypt´s Mohamed Salah as he seeks a sixth FIFA men´s world player of the year award.
But Lionel Messi -- who has dominated the award along with Ronaldo over the past decade -- has been omitted from the shortlist after featuring in the top three for 11 straight years.
Ronaldo, who like Messi is a five-time winner of the award, lifted a fourth Champions League title in five years before joining Italian champions Juventus in July.
France´s World Cup-winning manager Didier Deschamps, Zlatko Dalic and Zinedine Zidane were nominated as the finalists for FIFA´s coach of the year award.
Deschamps became just the third man to win the World Cup as a player and coach with victory over Dalic´s Croatia in Russia while Zidane led Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions League win in May before stepping down.