Lewandowski 8th in Ballon d'Or

Lewandowski's place on the list is reward for yet another prolific return in front of goal for club and country.

The 31-year-old scored 40 times in 47 competitive appearances for Bayern in 2018/19, helping the club win a Bundesliga-DFB Cup double whilst scooping his fourth Bundesliga top scorer's prize.

He has continued his red-hot form into the new campaign, netting a Bundesliga-leading 16 goals in 13 games (27 in 21 matches in all competitions). No player across Europe's top five leagues has found the net more often in 2019/20.

This calendar year alone, Lewy has plundered 39 goals in a Bayern shirt, adding to his six goals in 10 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers for Poland.

Already the German top flight's record foreign marksman and fourth overall (218 goals in 303 games), Lewandowski recently made history as the first player to score in each of the first 11 matches of a season, breaking former Borussia Dortmund teammate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's record for goals in consecutive games to start a league campaign.

The Bayern No.9 is bidding to become only the second player in Bundesliga history after Gerd Müller (1971/72) to score 40 or more goals in a single season.

Watch: Robert Lewandowski on the path to greatness

A seven-time Polish Footballer of the Year, Lewandowski has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or a number of times before. He finished a career-best fourth in the final rankings in 2015, when the prize was given under the auspices of FIFA.

Lewandowski's teammate and captain, Manuel Neuer - shortlisted for the inaugural Yachine Trophy for the best goalkeeper in world football - was the last Bayern player to make the final three-man shortlist, in 2014. Former Bayern winger Franck Ribery finished third in 2013, behind record Ballon d'Or winners Ronaldo and Messi.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho was the runner-up in the 2019 Kopa Trophy for the best player in the world aged 21 or under.