Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has backed Sadio Mane to win the 2019 Ballon d'Or. 

The Liverpool and Senegal forward has been nominated for the award alongside 29 other players, including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and teammate Virgil van Dijk. 

Those three are the clear favourites to win the individual prize, which is handed out at a ceremony in December. 

Yet, Drogba believes the prize should go to Mane instead.  

"Sadio Mane," he answered when asked to pick his Ballon d'Or winner, per The Independent.

"For the AFCON, the Champions League, and the league championship. What he does in the Premier League, very few players are able to do it.

"It is possible, but it would have been possible [for others to win] well before. There are many players who have represented well the African continent, like Samuel Eto’o.

"What is a pity is that when we talk about African players, we talk about the continent, we do not speak of a country. 

"We will never say ‘Kylian Mbappe represents the European continent’. It is a small shift [in mentality] that is present.

"But to return to the question, it would be really nice that Sadio, or even Mohamed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang continue to raise their level of play to hope to win this trophy." 

Drogba will co-present the Ballon d'Or ceremony in a couple of months and he's very much hoping that an African player can scoop the award - and why not? 

Mane has been impressive in 2019 for both club and country.

Last season he won the Champions League, while Liverpool finished just one point behind Premier League champions Manchester City and Mane was joint top scorer with 22 goals.  

On the international stage, Senegal reached the Africa Cup of Nations final, where they were beaten narrowly by Algeria. 

Despite coming up short, Mane still impressed and 2019 could be his best chance of winning the Ballon d'Or.