LIVE UPDATES: Ballon d'Or 2017

Hello good evening and welcome to our live text coverage of the 2017 Ballon d'Or awards which takes place in Paris tonight.

The awards proper starts at 18:00 GMT but the winner will be announced at 18:45.

Real Madrid star Ronaldo is the big favourite to win after helping his club to La Liga and Champions League glory.

Ronaldo won the award last year and also took the top prize in 2013 and 2014. Messi took top honours in 2015.

The Barcelona man is in with a shout of the 2017 prize after a stunning second-half of the year with Barcelona and helping Argentina qualify for the World Cup.

Follow all the build-up to tonight's event with the updates below.