QPR midfielder Massimo Luongo says he thought his nomination for the Ballon D'or was a joke.

The 23-year-old signed for the R's over the summer after impressing for Swindon Town in League One the year before, joining with teammate Ben Gladwin for a combined fee of £3.5 million and he has already made nine appearances.

He won player of the tournament at the Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, and perhaps it was his international heroics that saw him on a 59-man shortlist nominated to win World Player of the Year, the Ballon D'or.

Luongo will now go head to head with the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski to win the coveted prize.

And after the surprise nomination, he admitted he first thought it was a joke but said it was a huge honour, telling ABC: "I didn't even know if it was real ... I thought it was someone trying to be funny," he said.

"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.

"Boys joke about it with me, the boys are taking the p*** a little bit, I do myself as well.

"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."

Luongo's QPR are having a sub par season at the moment, but came back from two down to beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3 last weekend.

Chris Ramsey's side currently sit in 11th place in the Sky Bet Championship table, having amassed 15 points from ten league games so far this season.

QPR fans..... What do you make of this news? Does Luongo deserve to be shortlisted? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!