The Welsh winger joins Sergio Aguero, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gianluigi Buffon and Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in the first batch of nominees to be announced.
France Football magazine is revealing the 30-man shortlist in bunches of five players every two hours throughout Monday.
This year's Ballon d'Or is judged solely by a panel of journalists after Fifa and France Football decided to part ways. They had originally joined forces to combine the previous Fifa World Player of the Year prize with the French publication's prestigious individual prize in 2010.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi won the award last year for a record fifth time.
The last time a player other than Messi or Ronaldo won was in 2007, when then AC Milan playmaker Kaka took the honour.
More names on the 30-man shortlist will be revealed throughout the day.
Ballon d'Or nominees (as of 9am BST)
Sergio Aguero
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Gareth Bale
Gianluigi Buffon
Cristiano Ronaldo
Kevin De Bruyne
Paulo Dybala
Diego GodÃn
Antoine Griezmann
Gonzalo Higuain
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Ece_frontpage 07.09.2017Joe Dallesandro in The Streetwalker
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