Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi, will win this year’s Ballon D’Or award, Mundo Deportivo reports.

The winner will be announced at an event in Paris, France on Monday night, after voting ended November 9.

It appears Messi will win the prize handed out by France Football ahead of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, as the organizers are already preparing for their post-awards issue.

Protocol ahead of the Golden Ball formalities, usually sees a team from the magazine travel to visit the winner in the week before the awards ceremony.

And it is understood a team from France Football travelled to Barcelona on Monday, to interview Messi for their upcoming issue.

Messi currently holds the joint-record for most wins of the award with five, along with long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo.