Lucy on list for the Ballon d'Or

Created in 1956 by France Football’s editorial team, the Ballon d’Or is part of the heritage of football, and in the past the men’s equivilent has been won by ‘greats’ of the game including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zinédine Zidane, Marco Van Basten,Michel Platini and Johan Cruyff.

Now, for the first time, a women’s Ballon d’Or is to be presented and this week it was confirmed that Bronze, who plays for England Ladies and her club football with Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) in France, is one of those nominated.

She is one of 15 named on the original list, which also includes her England team-0mate Fran Kirby, who plays for Chelsea.

The award will be presented at a star-studded evening on December 3 when the men’s trophy and the Trophée Kopa, for the U21’s, will also be presented.

On hearing of her nomination Bronze tweeted: “Merci @francefootball pour la nomination. Very humbled to be in the very first list for the female Ballon d’Or ... and I’m lucky enough to play with over half of the list.”