Messi, Ronaldo, Van Dijk Nominated for UEFA Player of the Year

Van Dijk helped Liverpool to the Champions League title and was a key part of the Netherlands' resurgence on the international level to earn a place alongside the perennial contenders.

Liverpool center back Virgil van Dijk has been named on a three-man shortlist alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win UEFA's Player of the Year award.

An overall 10-man shortlist has been drawn up in relation to a player's performances over the whole season in all competitions - both domestically and internationally - at either club or national team level.

In UEFA's announcement on Thursday, it was confirmed that Liverpool's Van Dijk would be alongside Ronaldo and Messi - who have won five of the last eight awards between them - in the running to be crowned Player of the Year.

To come up with the 10-man shortlist, UEFA compiled a jury to vote on their top three nominees, comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, along with 55 journalists.

The initial nominees were scored via a points system which game the first-placed five points, while the second got three and the third one.

Missing out on the top three, in reverse order, were Raheem Sterling (12 points), Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong (27 points), Eden Hazard (38 points), Mohamed Salah (49 points), Sadio Mané (51 points) and Alisson Becker (58 points).

The award will be presented at the same time as the UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on August 29.

The UEFA Women's Player of the Year award, which is between Lyon stars Lucy Bronze, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry, will also be presented on the same day.