Six Englishmen up for Ballon d'Or, Leo Messi misses the cut

The scale of the challenge facing the Republic of Ireland on Saturday was underlined by the inclusion of six England players in the list of nominees for the men's Ballon d'Or.

The Boys in Green welcome the beaten Euro 2024 finalists to the Aviva Stadium for their opening UEFA Nations League clash.

Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are among the list of Englishmen, but eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi - who lifted the men's award last year - was omitted along with longstanding rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Shortlists for the respective awards were unveiled by France Football on Wednesday night, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony in Paris on 28 October.

Bellingham was nominated for the prize after a superb debut campaign with Real Madrid was followed by him helping England reach the Euro 2024 final.

The 21-year-old is joined on a 30-player list by compatriots Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Kane, who scored 44 goals in his debut season with Bayern Munich.

Bellingham, Palmer and Foden have all been ruled out of the trip to Dublin due to injury.

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior and Manchester City midfielder Rodri are the early favourites to win the award.

Euro 2024 winners Spain make up a large chunk of those nominated, with Rodri joined by teenage star Lamine Yamal, Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams, Real Madrid captain Dani Carvajal, new Barcelona signing Dani Olmo and Bayer Leverkusen left-back Alejandro Grimaldo.

Kylian Mbappe is also listed, while there is plenty of Premier League interest with Arsenal duo William Saliba and Martin Odegaard joined by Manchester City rivals Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland.

Aston Villa and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez again makes the shortlist, while