The 2023 Ballon d’Or award nominees list has been revealed by France Football and two expected but surprising outcomes have been spotted.
Lionel Messi was returned to the nominees list after totally missing out on the 2022 nominees list. On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to make the nominees list for the first time since 2003, ending a 20-year record run as a Ballon d’Or candidate.
Both players are no longer in Europe but, thanks to their statures in world football, continue to dominate conversations over who the best player in the world is.
While Cristiano Ronaldo had a turbulent 2022 thanks to bureaucratic issues at Manchester United leading to his joining Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr, Lionel Messi endured being berated by PSG fans so that he could leave peacefully at the end of his two-year contract.
However, when both had the opportunity to improve their status in football during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo failed to make a mark with Portugal while Messi led the Argentina national team all the way to a very entertaining final with France to win the nation’s third World Cup trophy.
This sequence of events, it is believed, led to Messi getting a nod in the 2023 Ballon d’Or and Ronaldo being omitted for the first time in 29 years.
Both have always been favourites any time they have been nominated and Messi’s World Cup triumph has made it such that there is almost nothing standing in his way to an eighth award.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, however, could have a word in the proceedings.
A fellow Ballon d’Or 2023 nominee, Haaland is fresh off of winning the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award after an incredible debut season with Manchester City.
He scored just as many goals in 56 games for the club in all competitions as they won the European treble. He finished with the best player and highest goalscorer award in England but his City teammate Rodri beat him to the best player award in the UEFA Champions League.
Haaland’s absence from the World Cup, however, is what gives Messi the edge in the 2023 Ballon d’Or award. Regardless, it is the closest that the award has been in a long time.
Alongside Ronaldo’s conspicuous absence as well as Messi and Haaland leading the nominees, Kylian Mbappe is also on the list for his exploits with PSG alongside Messi and his performance in the World Cup which was deserving of the Golden Ball had Messi not done one better to clinch the trophy.
Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen also makes history as the first Nigerian to make it to the nominees just since 1999. He was the catalyst behind a historic Serie A run for Napoli, who clinched their first league title in 33 years at the end of the 2022/23 season.
Other nominees include Ilkay Gundogan, Robert Lewandowski, Julian Alvarez and Arsenal Starkey Bukayo Saka.
