Goal magazine has updated the ranking of favorites to win the “Ballon d’Or” – the prize for the best football player in the world at the end of the year.
The top contender for the prize remains forward Lionel Messi, who moved from the French “Paris Saint-Germain” to the American “Inter Miami” this summer. Second place is still held by forward Erling Haaland of “Manchester City,” and the top three is completed by Kylian Mbappe from PSG.
The top 20 candidates for the “Ballon d’Or” look like this:
- Lionel Messi (“Inter Miami”);
- Erling Haaland (“Manchester City”);
- Kylian Mbappe (PSG);
- Vinicius Junior (“Real”);
- Kevin De Bruyne (“Manchester City”);
- Rodri (“Manchester City”);
- Ilkay Gundogan (“Barcelona”);
- Victor Osimhen (“Napoli”);
- Julian Alvarez (“Manchester City”);
- Robert Lewandowski (“Barcelona”);
- Jude Bellingham (“Real”);
- Bernardo Silva (“Manchester City”);
- Karim Benzema (“Al-Ittihad”);
- Hvicha Kvaratskhelia (“Napoli”);
- Lautaro Martinez (“Inter”);
- Bukayo Saka (“Arsenal”);
- Emiliano Martinez (“Aston Villa”);
- Martin Odegaard (“Arsenal”);
- Mohamed Salah (“Liverpool”);
- Jamal Musiala (“Bayern Munich”).
The “Ballon d’Or” award ceremony will take place today, on October 30.
Last season, Messi, along with PSG, became the champion of France and won the country’s super cup, and as part of the Argentine national team, he won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and was named the most valuable player of the tournament.
At the moment, the Argentine has seven “Ballon d’Or” awards to his name, which is a record. Messi can distance himself from his main pursuer, Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (5), who did not make the list of nominees for the first time in 20 years.
In 2022, Karim Benzema, who moved from Real Madrid to Saudi Arabian club “Al-Ittihad” this summer, became the winner of the “Ballon d’Or” for the first time in his career.
Last updated on 30 Oct 2023 - 21:59
