Italian media was particularly outraged that the Championship player was in ahead of Gianluigi Buffon with leading sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport describing it as an “own goal” on their front page.
It wasn’t only Luongo’s inclusion that raised eyebrows. Arsenal’s David Ospina and Bournemouth’s Christian Atsu were also nominated.
AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini was highly critical of the decision to omit Buffon.
"The trophy loses value when it just comes down to pleasing clubs and federations," Maldini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Come on, how is this possible? It's absurd. There are players there just because of their name.
"Gigi deserves to be on the list for what he has achieved and how he has achieved it. At nearly 38 years old, he is still one of the three best goalkeepers in the world.
"Ok, I accept Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) and (Thibaut) Courtois (Chelsea), but Bravo and Ospina?”
AS, Madrid’s second most popular sports daily newspapers, accused FIFA of ‘belittling’ the award by nominating a ‘stranger’ in Luongo.
Many of these publications failed to mention that the Socceroos star was the player of the tournament during January’s Asian Cup – which appears to be the catalyst for the decision.
Former Socceroos player Harry Kewell was one of the people on FIFA’s Football Committee who compiled the 59-player list.
Other notable absentees were David Silva, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Mesut Ozil, Philipp Lahm, Marco Reus, Koke, Vincent Kompany and Marco Verratti.
The 59-man Ballon d'Or long-list is
Claudio Bravo - Barcelona
Javier Mascherano - Barcelona
Andres Iniesta - Barcelona
Lionel Messi - Barcelona
Ivan Rakitic - Barcelona
Neymar - Barcelona
Luis Suarez - Barcelona
Gareth Bale - Real Madrid
Karim Benzema - Real Madrid
Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid
Luka Modric - Real Madrid
James Rodriguez - Real Madrid
Toni Kroos - Real Madrid
Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus
Paul Pogba - Juventus
Alvaro Morata - Juventus
Arturo Vidal - Juventus/Bayern
Andrea Pirlo - Juventus/NYCFC
Carlos Tevez - Juventus/Boca
Robert Lewandowski - Bayern
Arjen Robben - Bayern
David Alaba - Bayern
Thomas Muller - Bayern
Manuel Neuer - Bayern
Wilfried Bony - Manchester City
Yaya Toure - Manchester City
Sergio Aguero - Manchester City
Nicolas Otamendi - valencia/Manchester City
Kevin de Bruyne - Wolfsburg/Manchester City
Diego Costa - Chelsea
Willian - Chelsea
Thibaut Courtois - Chelsea
Eden Hazard - Chelsea
Edinson Cavani - PSG
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - PSG
Javier Pastore - PSG
Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
David de Gea - Manchester United
Memphis Depay - PSV/Manchester United
David Ospina - Arsenal
Alexis Sanchez - Arsenal
Antoine Griezmann - Atletico Madrid
Jackson Martinez - Porto/Atletico Madrid
Carlos Bacca - Sevilla/AC Milan
Giovani dos Santos - Villarreal/LA Galaxy
Phillippe Coutinho - Liverpool
Son Heung-Min - Leverkusen/Tottenham
Christian Atsu - Everton/Bournemouth
Paolo Guerrero - Flamengo/Corinthians
Eduardo Vargas - QPR/Hoffenheim
Gary Medel - Inter
Harry Kane - Tottenham
Alexandre Lacazette - Lyon
Andres Guardado - PSV
Carlos Sanchez - River Plate
Andre Ayew - Marseille/Swansea
Massimo Luongo - Swindon/QPR
Shinji Okazaki - Mainz/Leicester
