On Wednesday, the European football's governing body (UEFA) has revealed the nominees for men's Player of the Year award. The final shortlist included Kevin De Bruyne, Robert Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer, excluding Messi, C. Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah for the first time since 2010.
The awards will be presented at the 2020-21 Uefa Champions League group stage draw ceremony on October 1.
Lewandowski guided Bayern Munich to their sixth Champions League title, finishing as the competition's top scorer with 15 goals.
The Polish striker netted 55 goals in 47 games in all competitions as Bayern won the treble.
Neuer, also part of Bayern's treble-winning squad, kept six clean sheets in the Champions League and missed just one game the entire season.
City midfielder De Bruyne provided a record-equaling 20 assists in the Premier League last season, the highest in Europe.
The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48), along with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each of UEFA's member associations.
Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.