UEFA footballer of the year: Will Grigg ranked alongside Paul Pogba as Wayne Rooney fails to get single vote

NORTHERN IRELAND cult hero Will Grigg has been ranked alongside £100million Paul Pogba in a Europe-wide vote for UEFA's player of the year award.

Grigg became a global sensation during Euro 2016 as the 'Will Grigg's on Fire' chant went viral thanks to the constant singing of Irish fans.

Now the Wigan forward, who failed to even make an appearance in France,  has made an elite list of stars who received votes in the poll.

Journalists from 55 countries were invited to submit their top five players across Europe for the annual poll - with 37 in total receiving votes.

And Grigg came joint-25th, along with Manchester United target Pogba and Juventus' brilliant defender Georgio Chiellini.

That ranks him better than Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne in joint 30th, while England captain Wayne Rooney failed to get a single vote as his fall from grace from the top table continues.

The only English player to receive any votes was Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, who finished 12th, one behind Foxes teammate Riyard Mahrez.

Each player was awarded points depending where they were ranked in the top five submitted by each journalist, with the highest placed getting five points.

Their totals were then added together to produce a shortlist of ten which will now be voted on again to determine the top three in Europe.

Gareth Bale has made the top ten along with Cristiano Ronaldo and last year's winner Lionel Messi.

But there is no place on the shortlist for Brazil star Neymar or United's new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The winner will be announced during the draw for the Champions League group stages in Monaco on August 25.

Top Ten Nominees (in alphabetical order)

Gareth Bale (Real Madrid & Wales)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy)
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid & France)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid & Germany)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina)
Thomas Müller (Bayern München & Germany)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern München & Germany)

Pepe (Real Madrid & Portugal)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal)
Luis Suárez (Barcelona & Uruguay)

How the rest were ranked....

11 Riyad Mahrez (Leicester & Algeria)
12 Jamie Vardy (Leicester & England)
13 Dimitri Payet (West Ham & France)
14 Jérôme Boateng (Bayern München & Germany)
15 Arturo Vidal (Bayern München & Chile)
16 Luka Modrić (Real Madrid & Croatia)
17 N'Golo Kanté (Leicester & France)
18 Zlatan Ibrahimović (Manchester United &; Sweden)

19= Eden Hazard (Chelsea & Belgium)
19= Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain)
19= Neymar (Barcelona & Brazil)
19= Renato Sanches (Bayern München & Portugal)
23 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern München & Poland)
24 Gonzalo Higuaín (Napoli & Argentina)
25= Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus & Italy)
25= Diego Godin (Atlético Madrid & Uruguay)
25= Will Grigg (Wigan & Northern Ireland)
25= Hugo Lloris (Tottenham & France)
25= Paul Pogba (Juventus & France)

30= Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham & Belgium)
30= Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund & Gabon)
30= Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City & Belgium)
30= Kevin Gameiro (Sevilla & France)
30= Grzegorz Krychowiak (Paris Saint-Germain & Poland)
30= Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain & France)
30= Georges-Kévin N'Koudou (Marseille & France)
30= Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid & Slovenia)