Dimitar Berbatov, Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov are the three football players having highest chances of receiving the footballer of the year award, Focus news agency reported.

The winner will be named on December 19 during an award ceremony.

Based on a preliminary selection, 191 journalists were invited to vote for the player of the year.

During the ceremony footballers will receive awards in several categories. Among these are fair play, best young player, coach of the year and goalkeeper of the year.

The award for the footballer of the tear is a jeep.

Among the people to give awards in the different categories are head of the Bulgarian Olympic committee (BOC) Stefka Kostadinova, former national team coach Dimitar Penev and head of the state youth and sport committee Vessela Lecheva.

Spanish football legend and Golden Ball winner Luis Suarez is to attend the ceremony in Bulgaria.