seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or When he was left off the 30-person list for this year’s top football prize, Lionel Messi paid a steep price for an unsatisfactory debut season with Paris Saint-Germain.
One of the three members of England’s Euro-winning team to make the shortlist for the women’s prize is Lucy Bronze, who finished second in 2019.
Messi, who took home the trophy last year, has consistently been nominated since 2006 and, with the exception of 2018, had consistently appeared in the top three.
But because he moved from Barcelona to Paris, Messi, 35, will not receive the prize in 2022.
The eventual champion Real Madrid eliminated the French champions in the round of 16 to claim the title.
Messi only scored 11 goals for PSG in total, and the judges for the Ballon d’Or, which will be presented in Paris on October 17, were unimpressed by his mediocre club play.
Neymar, a PSG teammate who scored 13 goals in 28 games this season, is also absent.
There aren’t many surprises on the remaining nominees’ list.
Karim Benzema, a striker for France’s national team, is the clear favorite after helping Real Madrid win their 14th Champions League championship.
His goal total for the European season was 15.
Benzema is most likely to join Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991), and Zinedine Zidane as the fifth French winner (1998).
Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games for a Madrid team that also won the Liga in 2021–2022, making 46 appearances.
The 34-year-old scored to give the Spanish giants a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, giving him 324 goals overall.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 450, is ahead of him on the club’s all-time list after that moved him ahead of Raul.
He is eligible to win the Ballon d’Or. Is there a question? Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Real, remarked, “Not for me.
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner for Manchester United, is nominated once more this year.
Benzema’s colleagues Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, 2018 winner Luka Modric, Vinicius, and ex-Chelsea star Antonio Rudiger are all included on the 30-man list.
defeated finalist in the Champions League Liverpool has the most nominees of any club with seven players.
