UEFA have revealed a three-man shortlist for their player of the year award, and the three stars made the cut from the original 10-man list.
UEFA trimmed their original shortlist of 10 down to three on Tuesday, with Monaco starlet Kylian Mbappe and former Manchester United frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovic among the seven players to miss the cut.
Buffon is just the second goalkeeper ever to make the final three since the award was introduced for the 2010–11 season.
The other was Manuel Neuer in 2013-14.
The Italian goalkeeper led Juventus to a sixth successive Serie A title, a third-straight Italian Cup success and a runner-up finish in the Champions League.
Both Messi and Ronaldo have both won the award twice, with the Portugal international voted winner last year.
Messi claimed the Copa del Rey with Barcelona and finished as La Liga's top scorer with 37 goals last season while his close competitor Christiano Ronaldo netted 28 goals for Real Madrid in all competitions.
The Portugal international also helped his club to a second consecutive Champions League title and finished as the tournament's top scorer with 12 goals.
The three-player shortlist was selected by a panel of 80 coaches from the clubs which participated in the group stage of the 2016-17 Champions League and Europa League, as well as 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media group.
-Daily mail