There's A Shock Candidate Leading The Ballon d'Or Poll With 32%

France Football announced the 30 man shortlist for the 2016 Ballon d'Or on social media yesterday, as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez predictably made the cut.

Shortly after the nominations had been announced, a public poll was posted on France Football's website and the results have surprised many.

It looks like voters are compelled by the incredible journey of Leicester City midfielder Riyad Mahrez, after his incredible rise from the fourth division of French football to Premier League winner hit worldwide headlines in 2015/16.

As i'm writing this, 1,165,525 people have voted in the poll, with 32% of the vote going to Algerian international Mahrez.

POLL: Top 5

1st - Riyad Mahrez (32%)
2nd - Lionel Messi (31%)
3rd - Cristiano Ronaldo (23%)
4th - Rui Patricio (3%)
5th - Gianluigi Buffon (2%)

Out of the 30 nominated, the majority came from La Liga (Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, Modric, Neymar, Godin, Iniesta, Koke, Kroos, Ramos, Griezmann, Pepe, Bale)

8 from the Premier League (Aguero, Lloris, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Payet, Ibrahimovic, Vardy) 5 from the Bundesliga (Aubameyang, Lewandowski, Neuer, Vidal, Muller) 3 from Serie A (Dybala, Higuain, Buffon) and just 1 from Premiera Liga (Patricio)

Riyad Mahrez for the Ballon d'Or?

We just can't see it happening.

Featured Image Credit:

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_