England's Kane in the running for Ballon d'Or

Kane has enjoyed a superb year, scoring 43 times in 37 appearances for club and country, to help Spurs qualify for the Champions League and England next year's World Cup.

His two goals as captain secured England successive victories against Slovenia and Lithuania over the international break.

The 24-year-old, the only Englishman in the running for the award, joins the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar on the shortlist.

Chelsea's N'Golo Kante and Eden Hazard, Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane, Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne and Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea are the other Premier League representatives

The Ballon d'Or, which is judged by a panel of journalists, ran in conjunction with FIFA from 2010 until 2015, when the governing body split to create its own Best Player award.

Ronaldo is favourite to retain the crown, which would see the Real Madrid and Portugal forward pull level with Messi in winning it five times.

The winner will be announced in December.

30-man 2017 Ballon d'Or shortlist:

Neymar, Luka Modric, Paulo Dybala, Marcelo, N'Golo Kante, Luis Suarez, Sergio Ramos, Jan Oblak, Philippe Coutinho, Dries Mertens, Kevin De Bruyne, Robert Lewandowski, David De Gea, Harry Kane, Edin Dzeko, Antoine Griezmann, Toni Kroos, Gianluigi Buffon, Sadio Mane, Radamel Falcao, Lionel Messi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Edinson Cavani, Mats Hummels, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Leonardo Bonucci, Isco, Kylian Mbappe.