2021 Ballon d'Or winners will be announced today, Monday, November 29 at at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris.
The awards return after a one-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A formal ceremony will be held in Paris and broadcast to a global audience.
The best young men's player (Kopa Trophy) and top men's goalkeeper (Yashin Trophy) will also be recognized.
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Messi was the last player to win the award, earning the honor in 2019, and he and eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo have shared 11 of the last 12 Ballon d'Or trophies.
Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric is the only man to have broken their duopoly, winning in 2018, but he is not among the 30 finalists in 2021. The first men's Ballon d'Or was awarded in 1956.
There are 20 nominees for the women's Ballon d'Or. Barcelona's Alexia Putellas and Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema are among the front-runners.
The last winner — Megan Rapinoe in 2019 — isn't a finalist, but there are three Canada Olympic gold medal winners and one American, Samantha Mewis, who is not likely to win given the stiff competition.
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The ceremony at the Théâtre du Chatelet will reveal the male and female Ballon d'Or winners, the Kopa Trophy (best Under-21 young player) and the Yashin Trophy (best goalkeeper).
There were six editions (2010 through 015) in which the Ballon d'Or, run by French weekly France Football, was known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or after it fused with the FIFA Player of the Year award. FIFA broke away and started The Best FIFA Football Awards beginning with 2016 (awarded in January 2017).