The trio enjoyed impressive campaigns for their clubs last season and have been recognised for their achievements.
Virgil van Dijk was announced as the UEFA Men’s best player last week, beating both Messi and Ronaldo to the gong, and the trio will have to battle it out once more for the right to succeed Luka Modric, who won the award last year, as the FIFA Men’s best player.
FIFA announced a ten-man shortlist in July for the award but the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Eden Hazard, Sadio Mane, Frenkie de Jong, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe have failed to make the final three-man shortlist.
Van Dijk was instrumental as Liverpool won a sixth Champions League title last season and he also captained the Dutch national team to the final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, where they lost out to Portugal.
Ronaldo enjoyed an impressive debut season in Italy with Juventus, helping the Old Lady to an eighth straight Scudetto, scoring 28 goals in all competitions and skippering the Portuguese national team to the UEFA Nations League title.
Messi led Barcelona to win the Spanish League title, scored 51 goals in all competitions and was the top scorer in both the Champions League and La Liga.
Luka Modric’s successor will announced on September 23.
