Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Mo Salah Headline the Best FIFA Men's Award

Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah are the three finalists for the 2018 Best FIFA Men's Player award. 

Juventus forward Ronaldo is the current holder of the gong having won it for the last two years, and he will go up against former Real Madrid team-mate Modric and Liverpool sensation Salah for the award in 2018, FIFA confirmed on Monday:

Barcelona star Lionel Messi is conspicuous by his absence.

He and Ronaldo have effectively monopolised football's major individual awards for the last decade, and Messi did net 34 goals in Barca's triumphant La Liga campaign last term.

There are also no finalists from the France team that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup earlier this summer.

Modric, 32, was Croatia's talisman as they made it to the final in Russia before losing to Les Bleus, and he also won the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament.

Along with Ronaldo at Real, the diminutive midfielder also won a third successive UEFA Champions League.

The Portuguese superstar top scored in the Champions League for the sixth season running as he netted 15 goals in Real's 13 matches before making his £99.2 million move to Juve in July.

Salah, meanwhile, enjoyed a stunning debut campaign with Liverpool last term after his move to Anfield from Roma in June 2017.

Although Liverpool did not win any silverware, the Egyptian played a key role in them reaching the Champions League final and also broke new ground as he scored 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season.