Eden Hazard: I was nominated for Ballon d'Or because I play for Chelsea

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Tom Dutton14 October 2017

Eden Hazard believes he has only been nominated for the Ballon d'Or because he plays for Chelsea.

The Belgium international was named on a 30-man shortlist which included team-mate N'Golo Kante and favourites for the award Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

The nomination is recognition of Hazard's impressive contribution as the Blues won the Premier League title last term. The 26-year-old was named Chelsea's Player of the Season after scoring 16 goals during their charge to the league crown.

But Hazard says he has "no chance" of winning the award and believes the Blues must lift every trophy available for him to claim the individual honour.

"I have no chance [of winning]," he told Sky Sports. "I think a lot of players are better than me but I am happy to be in the last 30 players. I know I am on this list because I play for Chelsea and because I play with great team-mates. They help me every week to be on this list.

"I don't know if in the future I can have the chance to win the Ballon d'Or but it is not my objective now. My objective is to play and to enjoy myself on the pitch.

"For the last 10 years, it has always been Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, but Neymar is coming and a couple of others so we will see when Messi and Ronaldo stop playing, maybe we have a better chance but for the moment, it is not in my head.

"We have more chance to win the Ballon d'Or if we win everything. I think this year, Ronaldo deserved it because he won with Portugal, he won the Champions League, he won La Liga. If one day I want to win, I just have to win everything. Nice and simple!"