By Samuel A. September 9, 2023
The Ballon D’or season is here, and the countdown to the most prestigious award ceremony in world football will take place in Paris at the end of October. The Ballon D’or, love it or loathe it, is the award every footballer in the world dreams of one day winning, and now, after a memorable 2022/23 campaign full of surprises, the shortlist of nominees for the 2023 Golden Ball have been announced.
There are a host of top names vying to claim the prize that has seen a lot of legendary players win, and others not, with performances not only at club level, but also at the 2022 World Cup having been taken into account when selecting this year’s list of potential winners. Will Lionel Messi pick up Ballon D’or number eight after guiding Argentina to glory in Qatar? Or will Erling Haaland’s record breaking season for treble winners Manchester City be enough?
We will have to wait until the ceremony in Paris on Monday, October 30th to find out, but for now, here are the players who have been shortlisted for football’s ultimate individual honour: Julian Alvarez, Nicolo Barella, Jude Bellingham, Karim Benzema, Yassine Bounou, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Antoine Griezmann, Ilkay Gundogan, Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haåland, Harry Kane, Randal Kolo Muani, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Robert Lewandowski, Emiliano Martinez, Lautaro Martinez, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Kim Min-Jae, Luka Modric, Jamal Musiala, Martin Oedegaard, Andre Onana, Victor Osimhen, Rodri, Bukayo Saka, Mohammed Salah, Bernardo Silva, and Vinicius Junior.
Also, in the Women’s category, Spain’s Aitana Bonmati is nominated for the Ballon d’Or Feminin after leading Spain to World Cup glory in August and winning the Golden Ball in the process. Bonmati looks the favourite for the prize, but goes up against England’s Milie Bright, Georgia Stanway, Rachel Daly and Mary Earps amongst others. The full list goes like this : Aitana Bonmati, Millie Bright, Linda Caicedo, Olga Carmona, Rachel Daly, Debinha, Kadidiatu Diani, Mary Earps, Patricia Guijarro, Yui Hasegawa, Amanda Ilestedt, Sam Kerr, Mapi Leon, Katie McCabe, Hinata Miyazawa, Lena Oberdorf, Asisat Oshoala, Ewa Pajor, Salma Paralluelo, Alexandra Popp, Hayley Raso, Alba Redondo, Guro Reiten, Wendie Renard, Fridolina Rolfo, Jill Roord, Khadija Shaw, Sophia Smith, Georgia Stanway, and Daphne Van Domselaar.
Other awards to be given that night are the Kopa Trophy for the best under 21 player and the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper.
Real Madrid’s Bellingham is favourite for the Kopa Trophy, given to the world’s best under 21 player and his competitors are Musiala, Balde, Xavi Simons, Camavinga, Gavi, Pedri, Højlund, Elye Wahi and Antonio Silva.
Premier League stars Ederson, Aaron Ramsdale, Andre Onana and Emiliano Martinez are nominated for the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the best goalkeeper of the year. Other nominees are Yassine Bounou, Thibaut Courtois, Mike Maignan, Brice Samba, Ter Stegen and Croatia’s hero, Dominik Livakovic.
The ceremony will take place on the 30th of October in the Theatre du Chatelet.
