The Ballon d'Or award for 2018 is approaching - and it promises to be a contentious one.

As we all know, the trophy has been passed between two men for the past decade: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Their domination has been unprecedented, with five wins each surpassing the previous all-time record of three, held by Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, and Marco van Basten.

This year, however, Messi and Ronaldo aren't topping the list of favourites - Luka Modric takes that honour, having already won FIFA's The Best award, as well as UEFA's Player of the Year.

Modric won the Champions League with Real Madrid before helping Croatia to their greatest ever World Cup performance as runners-up.

He's not the only favourite, though, with world champions France having a few players in the mix.

One of those is Kylian Mbappe, who swept every trophy in France with Paris Saint-Germain before making history at the World Cup.

Mbappe became the first teenager since Pele to score multiple goals in a knockout game before equalling the same man as a teenager scoring in the final.

And with the 19-year-old very much in contention for the Ballon d'Or, he has given an interesting view on the award - and on the Ronaldo/Messi era.

"Nobody is doing better at the moment [than Messi and Ronaldo] and we can't say it's the end of their era because it will only end when somebody else does better than them," Mbappe told AFP.

"I don't think one of them will win the Ballon d'Or this year because it was a World Cup year, and the World Cup takes precedence.

"But if you take the player in the purest form, there's nobody better yet - this year they were again the best two.

"Messi finished the best goalscorer in Europe; Ronaldo was the top scorer in the Champions League."

As for who should lift the award, Mbappe feels the World Cup victory should push it towards French hands.

"Frankly, I hope [a France player wins it]," he said. "We achieved something big. It would not be unjust because that is a strong word, but it would be a shame if a Frenchman does not win it.

"We made history and it would be nice to be rewarded."

There isn't long to go before we find out if the judges agree with Mbappe, and whether we'll see a new man win the Ballon d'Or for the first time in a decade.