Massimo Luongo thought his Ballon d'Or nomination was a joke

Finding his name among the likes Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo admittedly felt a little weird for Queens Park Rangers midfielder Massimo Luongo.

But there he was on the 59-player list for football's greatest individual award.

The 23-year-old had only recently moved from third-tier club Swindon Town, and despite being named the player of the tournament for his role in Australia's Asian Cup victory in January, the honour struck him first as a joke.

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“I didn’t even know if it was real ... I thought it was someone trying to be funny," he said, courtesy of the Australian Associated Press. "It’s obviously a big honour, not many people get on it, I can say I’ve been on the Ballon d’Or list now. I don’t know what to say about it ... it’s a bit random."

Luongo's inclusion in the list, which was leaked last week, was one of several surprises. Bournemouth's Christian Atsu, Arsenal's David Ospina, and former QPR winger Edu Vargas also made the cut, while Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon and Barcelona stalwart Sergio Busquets did not.

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"Boys joke about it with me, the boys are taking the piss a little bit, I do myself as well," Luongo said. "If it was something like a big move or something, the media attention would play on my mind a little bit but this (doesn’t affect me) maybe because I've got no chance of winning it."