Hugo Lloris, Son Heung-Min named to Ballon d’Or shortlist

French sports newspaper France Football today released the 30 professional footballers who been named to the “shortlist” for the 2019 Ballon d’Or, and there’s a surprise on the list — Tottenham Hotspur and France captain and keeper Hugo Lloris has made the shortlist, as has Korean forward Son Heung-Min!

Of course, we’re all thrilled for Sonny, who is finally getting the plaudits he’s deserved. He’s been one of the best attacking players in world football for a couple of seasons, but he’s been slow to get recognition. Now he has it.

For Hugo, it’s his second straight nomination after also making the shortlist last year. Some will say it’s a curious one — although he helped lead Spurs to the Champions League finals, he’s been a bit error prone this year and you don’t have to look far to find fans, even Spurs fans, who disagree with this choice.

I say: forget those people. Tottenham Hotspur’s keeper is on the shortlist for the biggest award in world club football, and that’s reason to celebrate. Lloris was also nominated for the new Yachine Trophy, which is awarded to France Football’s choice for best goalkeeper in club football.

Neither Hugo or Sonny are likely to win the Ballon d’Or, and that’s also okay — this is definitely one of those “it’s an honor just to be nominated” things. Good for Hugo and Sonny!

The Premier League are big winners in this shortlist, but none more than Liverpool who have a staggering seven players in the 30-player final tally. Here’s the full list of all 30 shortlisted nominees.

• Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
• Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)
• Dusan Tadic (Ajax)
• Frenkie De Jong (Ajax/Barcelona)
• Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)
• Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
• Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)
• Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
• Donny van de Beek (Ajax)
• Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
• Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
• Alisson (Liverpool)
• Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)
• Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
• Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
• Heung-min Son (Spurs)
• Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
• Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
• Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
• Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
• Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
• Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)
• Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid/Barcelona)
• Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
• Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Real Madrid)
• Marquinhos (PSG)
• Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
• João Félix (Benfica/Atlético Madrid)