Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were not included on the list of players who are up for the award this year. This is the first time since 2003 that neither player has been nominated for the award.
Record eight-time winner Messi, and his long-term rival Ronaldo, who has five Ballon d’Ors to his name, didn’t appear in that frame of mind of 30 players in the running during this year’s award, which will come off on October 28.
Vinicius Junior, Rodri, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane are among the names selected for this year’s ceremony.
Colleagues Vinicius Jnr. and Jude Bellingham assisted Real Madrid with winning LaLiga and the club’s sixteenth Champions League title last season, while Haaland led the Premier League in goals scored and Kane did likewise for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
Mbappé equally sealed his expected move to Madrid after spending six seasons at PSG.
Messi, who is working his way back from injury with club side Inter Miami, won the award last year.
In 2009, Messi, then 37, won his first Ballon d’Or, marking a four-year winning streak. In 2006, he was first nominated.
During the height of their careers, Messi and Ronaldo made the competition nearly a two-way race, winning it 13 times from 2008 to the present.
Ronaldo’s first nomination was 2004.
On the women’s side, five U.S. stars made the list of nominees, including captain and midfielder Lindsey Horan, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and forwards Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, a few weeks after helping the Americans win the 2024 Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer.
Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey, Patri Guijarro, Salma Paralluelo and Alexia Putellas are the five Spanish players nominated for the award.
Spain completed fourth at the Olympics, one year in the wake of winning the World Cup. The award has gone to Spanish players in every one of the over three years, two times to Putellas and last year to Bonmatí.
There are three candidates for England, who lost to Spain in the World Cup final in 2023: Lauren Hemp, Lauren James, and Lucy Bronze.
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