The race for the 2018 FIFA Men’s player of the year award has just kicked into top gear, with as many as 10 players nominated for this year’s award ceremony taking place in London.

Of the 10-man shortlist for the award there are four English Premier league players who made the cut. The Spanish La Liga features five players, including Cristiano Ronaldo who recently transferred from Real Madrid to Juventus of Italy.

France forward Kylian Mbappe who plays for Paris St-Germain in the Ligue 1 is the other player to complete the list of the chosen 10 players to compete for this year’s award. The 2017 FIFA Best player award went to Portuguese Captain, Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Full 10-man shortlist

* Mohamed Salah - Liverpool & Egypt (Premier League)

* Harry Kane - Tottenham & England (Premier League)

* Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City & Belgium (Premier League)

* Eden Hazard - Chelsea & Belgium (Premier League)

* Luka Modric - Real Madrid & Croatia (La Liga)

* Raphael Varane - Real Madrid & France (La Liga)

* Antoine Griezmann - Atletico Madrid & France (La Liga)

* Lionel Messi - Barcelona & Argentina (La Liga)

* Kylian Mbappe - Paris St-Germain & France (Ligue 1)

* Cristiano Ronaldo - Juventus & Portugal (The 2017 Best FIFA Men's Player/Winner)

Mohamed Salah

The Premier League’s PFA player of the year, Mohamed Salah, leads the EPL’s contingent having had a fantastic 2017/2018 campaign. The Egyptian star top the scorer’s chart in the Premier League last season with 32 goals and 10 assists.

With 46 goals for club and country, he helped Liverpool reach the final of the Champions League in just his first season with the club, where they lost to Real Madrid. Mohamed Salah also propelled his home country, Egypt, to the Russia 2018 World Cup, where they exited the competition at the group stage.

Harry Kane

England’s top marksman for the 2017/2018 season Harry Kane scored achieved a landmark in his career last season when he scored 30-league goals in a single season for Tottenham in the Premier League.

Harry Kane carried his scoring boots to the 2018 World Cup in Russia where he scored six goals for England as they finished fourth (their best finish since 1990) in the competition after losing the third/fourth placed match to Belgium.

Kane’s six goal-haul at the finals won him the Golden Boot award; as he became the first English player since Gary Lineker (1986 World Cup) to win the Golden Boot for top scorer of the competition.

Kevin De Bruyne

The Belgium star midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne, was mercurial in Manchester City’s foray in the Premier League last season. The midfield maestro was inspirational in his midfield role as he propelled Manchester City to a record-breaking season when they finished the season with the most points (100 points) in the history of the Premier League competition, and also with the most wins in a single Premier League season (32 league wins).

De Bruyne was also a key part of the 2018 Belgium squad that finished third at the just concluded World Cup event in Russia; having missed a chance to feature in the final, when they lost 1 – 0 to France at the semi-final stage of the competition.

Eden Hazard

The amazing Chelsea talisman and Belgium star player of the just concluded 2018 World Cup in Russia had a great World Cup campaign, winning the Silver Ball – as the second-best player of the tournament, following his dazzling performance in Russia.

Hazard had a great influence in Belgium finishing third in the competition, which turns out to be their best ever finish in a World Cup. Despite having a dismal season with his club, Chelsea, the creative attacker also won the FA Cup with Chelsea in back in May.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Last year’s best player/winner of the 2017 FIFA Best Player of the year award, Cristiano Ronaldo, also achieved another incredible 2017/2018 season with his Spanish club Real Madrid, before completing a shocking move to Italian giants, Juventus after the Russia 2018 World Cup.

The Portuguese captain scored an amazing 54 goals in 54 games for Real Madrid last season in all competitions, and inspired the Spanish giants to a third consecutive UEFA Champions League trophy, as well as lifting the FIFA Club World Cup trophy.

Ronaldo also scored a superb hat-trick against Spain in thrilling 3 – 3 draw between Portugal and Spain in the group stage of the tournament. He went on to finish with 4 goals as Portugal were eliminated in the round of 16 of the competition in a 2 – 1 defeat by Uruguay.

With voting for the FIFA Best player set to close by midnight on the August 10th 2018, and the award ceremony itself taking place on September 24th 3018 in London, who do you suppose will win the award for the 2018 FIFA Best Player of the year? Kindly name your top-three players for the awards.