Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both absent from this year’s Ballon d’Or shortlist. Combine that with several other big names dropping off and we are guaranteed a first-time winner in the men’s award.
The winners of the Ballon d’Or will be announced on October 28 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. It starts at 3pm Eastern Time and 7pm GMT.
But how are the illustrious awards decided and who is on this year’s shortlists?
What is the Ballon d’Or?
Sparking debates in barbershops and online, the award presented by the magazine France Football since 1956 (2018 for women) is meant to name the best footballers in the world for that year. This year, UEFA — European football’s governing body — will help organise the award for the first time.
FIFA and France Football collaborated on the award from 2010 to 2015, but FIFA created its own trophy eight years ago, The Best.
Messi leads the way with eight Ballon d’Or wins between 2009 and 2023. Ronaldo has five. The pair have dominated the men’s award in recent history but, for the first time in 21 years, neither has been nominated.
In the women’s game, Spaniards have won the last three awards — Alexia Putellas has two and Aitana Bonmati was the most recent winner.
The popularity of the award in wider culture has even led to the release of an Afrobeats song named after it — B. D’OR by Grammy-winning artist Burna Boy (a Manchester United fan).
Who decides the Ballon d’Or winners?
The Ballon d’Or is decided by 100 journalists, one from each of FIFA’s 100 top-ranked member nations (top 50 for the women’s award). Each journalist makes their top 10 pick from the 30-player shortlist and there are different point values for each.
First: 15 points
Second: 12 points
Third: 10 points
Fourth: Eight points
Fifth: Seven points
Sixth: Five points
Seventh: Four points
Eighth: Three points
Ninth: Two points
Tenth: One point
Earning the most points wins you the Ballon d’Or. In the unlikely event of a tie, the winner would be decided by first-place votes.
Paul Kennedy was the United States journalist who voted in 2023 and Henry Winter took up the English vote.
Voting is subjective, meaning results vary, with some journalists making headlines for their left-field choices. Sri Lankan journalist Hafiz Marikar voted Leonardo Bonucci as the world’s best player in 2017, Eden Hazard in 2018 and Trent Alexander-Arnold in 2019. This was before the Ballon d’Or ruling changed in 2022 to votes only from the top 100 FIFA-ranked nations. Previously, votes came in from every FIFA-recognised nation — Sri Lanka are currently ranked 200th.
A reminder of who is on the Ballon d’Or shortlists this year…
Men
Ademola Lookman – Atalanta
Alejandro Grimaldo – Bayer Leverkusen
Antonio Rudiger – Real Madrid
Artem Dovbyk – Roma
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal
Cole Palmer – Chelsea
Dani Carvajal – Real Madrid
Dani Olmo – Barcelona
Declan Rice – Arsenal
Emiliano Martinez – Aston Villa
Erling Haaland – Manchester City
Federico Valverde – Real Madrid
Florian Wirtz – Bayer Leverkusen
Granit Xhaka – Bayer Leverkusen
Hakan Calhanoglu – Inter Milan
Harry Kane – Bayern Munich
Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappe – Real Madrid
Lamine Yamal – Barcelona
Lautaro Martinez – Inter Milan
Martin Odegaard – Arsenal
Mats Hummels – Borussia Dortmund
Nico Williams – Athletic Bilbao
Phil Foden – Manchester City
Rodri – Manchester City
Ruben Dias – Manchester City
Toni Kroos – Real Madrid
Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid
Vitinha – Paris Saint-Germain
William Saliba – Arsenal
Women
Ada Hegerberg – Lyon
Aitana Bonmati – Barcelona
Alexia Putellas – Barcelona
Alyssa Naeher – Chicago Red Stars
Barbra Banda – Orlando Pride
Caroline Graham Hansen – Barcelona
Ewa Pajor – Barcelona
Gabi Portilho – Corinthians
Giulia Gwinn – Bayern Munich
Glodis Viggosdottir – Bayern Munich
Grace Geyoro – Paris Saint-Germain
Khadija Shaw – Manchester City
Lauren Hemp – Manchester City
Lauren James – Chelsea
Lea Schuller – Bayern Munich
Lindsey Horan – Lyon
Lucy Bronze – Chelsea
Mallory Swanson – Chicago Red Stars
Manuela Giugliano – Roma
Marie-Antoinette Katoto – Paris Saint-Germain
Mariona Caldentey – Arsenal
Mayra Ramirez – Chelsea
Patricia Guijarro – Barcelona
Salma Paralluelo – Barcelona
Sjoeke Nusken – Chelsea
Sophia Smith – Portland Thorns
Tabitha Chawinga – Lyon
Tarciane – Houston Dash
Trinity Rodman – Washington Spirit
Yui Hasegawa – Manchester City
Why is Messi not on the shortlist?
Last year, Messi became the first MLS-based player to win the Ballon d’Or after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022.
He has enjoyed more international success this year, captaining Argentina to the Copa America title in July, and has featured in a record-breaking regular season for Inter Miami — but he did not make it onto the top 30 shortlist.
There are several reasons for this. First, the people compiling the men’s shortlist — editorial staff at France Football and French sports newspaper L’Equipe, last year’s “best judge” (Costa Rica for the men’s award) and a UEFA ambassador (Luis Figo) — believed other players performed better than the former Barcelona star.
Messi’s stats aren’t too shabby for the period in question — August 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024 — but injury heavily curtailed his game time. During that 12-month spell, Messi scored 22 goals and made 13 assists in all competitions for Inter Miami and helped his team win the 2024 Supporters’ Shield.
But the quality of MLS is widely regarded as inferior to Europe’s biggest leagues, which would have played a major part in Messi, 37, dropping out. Simply put: others have played more and performed better in tougher leagues.
Messi’s performances at the Qatar World Cup secured his eighth Ballon d’Or but he did not replicate such form at this year’s Copa America, making just two goal contributions (a goal and an assist) before being substituted in the 66th minute of the final because of injury. Messi was named Copa America’s player of the tournament in 2021 as Argentina won the tournament for the first time in 28 years, but this year’s award went to Colombia’s James Rodriguez, who also isn’t on the shortlist.
Anything else we should know?
Top tip: if you want to win a Ballon d’Or, don’t be a goalkeeper. In its 67-year history, only one goalkeeper, Lev Yashin, has won it. Since 2019, they have had their own award — France Football established the Yashin Trophy for the best-performing goalkeeper alongside the Ballon d’Or. The holder is Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez.
Other awards on offer during the night will be:
Men
Kopa Trophy (best player under 21 years of age)
Gerd Muller Trophy (top scorer of the previous season)
Club of the Year Trophy
Coach of the Year Trophy
Women
Coach of the Year
(Top photo: Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
