Why the Ballon d'or rankings started from 17th place instead of 30th place

The Ballon d’Or ceremony tonight started with the announcement of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric in 17^th position by France Football. There was some confusion as there were 30 nominees announced in the initial shortlist, and France Football was expected to announce 30^th place first right till the final announcement of the 61^st Ballon d’Or winner.

However, Toni Kroos was the first name out of the hat, with the Real Madrid midfielder in 17^th place. This was followed minutes later by Luka Modric, who joined his Los Blancos teammate in 17^th place, while Dimitri Payet also finished 17^th . 173 journalists voted for the 30 nominees, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez expected to gain most of the votes.

France Football revealed that 11 players did not receive any votes, which meant that only 19 players were able to garner any votes from the 173 journalists. Since Luka Modric, Dimitri Payet and Toni Kroos are tied in 17^th place, that leaves 16 players to be announced with 16 players left, although there could also be further ties.

Lionel Messi is in line to win his 6^th Ballon d’Or, while Cristiano Ronaldo is favoured to pick up his 4^th Ballon d’Or. The Ballon d’Or is no longer a popular vote after splitting with FIFA, and thus could possibly leave us with a surprising result.

France Football will continue to announce the rankings, with the winner expected to be announced at 2000 HRS CET or 00:30 HRS IST

Here is the list of the 30 nominees :

Sergio Aguero (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 Godin (Atletico Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Koke (Atletico 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 Muller (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Neymar (Barcelona), Dimitri Payet (West Ham), Pepe (Real Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Luis Suarez (Barcelona), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich).