The names of the 30 nominees for this year’s prestigious award were announced today, with three Blues included as we now await the announcement of the winner at a ceremony on Monday 30 October.

The Blues trio all played important parts in an incredible season for Chelsea Women, as we were crowned Women’s Super League champions for an unprecedented fourth year in a row, and making it a Double with a third successive Women’s FA Cup triumph.

Millie Bright was a rock at the heart of our intimidating defence throughout that campaign and continued to underline her status as one of the best centre-backs in the business when captaining England to the final of this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

At the other end of the pitch, Sam Kerr had another brilliant season in front of goal, netting 28 goals in 38 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions, while surpassing 100 games for the club. Her achievements have already been recognised by a place in the PFA WSL Team of the Year for the third time.

The Australian was joined in the PFA Team of the Year by her fellow Blue Guro Reiten, who is the third and final Chelsea nominee for the Ballon d’Or. It was the Norwegian’s second consecutive inclusion by the PFA, after a season when she was a key creative spark in Chelsea’s title triumph, as well as scoring 13 goals in 39 games.

This is the second year in a row that both Bright and Kerr have received Ballon d’Or nominations, with the latter finishing third in the vote for last season’s award.