France Football has responded to reports that the winner for this year's Ballon d'Or has been leaked.
Click through the gallery above to see the last five Ballon d'Or winners.
There was no award ceremony last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but this year Messi appears to be the frontrunner after guiding Argentina to the Copa America title to win his first major international trophy.
This, coupled with his as usual phenomenal performances at club level, have seemingly put him in pole position for the famous prize.
Messi is the bookmakers' favourite but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski and Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho – the only player in the world to have won both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA European Championship in this calendar year.
Liverpool sharp-shooter Mohamed Salah is also among the favourites, having enjoyed tremendous success in 2021.
Reports recently surfaced suggesting that Messi had received communication that he has already been chosen as the winner, with votes from international coaches, captains and journalists having already been cast.
However, France Football editor Pascal Ferre has rubbished this claim, telling Bild: "That's a lot of bullsh*t we've seen in the past 10 days. A big bluff."
Here are the 30 nominees for the 2021 Ballon d'Or award:
