It is certainly the end of an era. For the first time since 2003, the year of the elegant Pavel Nedved’s coronation, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo are on the list of 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or. Nothing surprising for the 39-year-old Portuguese, exiled in Saudi Arabia (Al-Nassr) and already absent last year.
Messi, for his part, did lift a second Copa America this summer with Argentina (after 2021) but the 37-year-old captain of the Albiceleste had less impact than in the past on his team’s success, even leaving the final after an ankle injury. Victorious last year for the eighth time, he finds himself out of the running for the most prestigious individual prize in the world of football, which will be awarded after the vote of a jury of journalists representing the top 100 nations in the Fifa rankings. The former Parisian, who now plays for Inter Miami, had already been rejected in 2022.
Only two French people on the list
Other major absentees this year include, among others, the Brazilian Rodrygo (Real Madrid), the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), the Argentinians Julian Alvarez (Manchester City then Atlético) and Angel Di Maria (Benfica), the Croatian Luka Modric (Real Madrid), the Dutch Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) and Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkusen), the Portuguese Rafael Leão (AC Milan), the Polish Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona) or, more logically, Neymar (Al-Hilal), injured since October 2023…
On the French side, William Saliba, author of a remarkable season with Arsenal and very prominent during the summer at the Euro, is the only one to accompany Kylian Mbappé. Mike Maignan, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé and Antoine Griezmann, among others, have not been selected for this 2024 edition of the Ballon d’Or, whose awards ceremony will take place on Monday, October 28, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
- RMC Sport
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