France Football magazine has announced the shortlist of Ballon d’Or 2023 nominees. Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are the two nominated representatives of Arsenal.
Golden Ball Nominee Shortlist 2023
Besides Ronaldo, Neymar is another star that did not appear on the shortlist. This is the second year in a row that the Brazilian striker has not been included in the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or nominations. He has just left PSG to follow in Ronaldo’s footsteps to the Saudi Pro League, wearing an Al-Hilal shirt. However, Neymar’s previous performance at PSG was not too prominent compared to other colleagues.
In the shortlist of 30 candidates, in addition to familiar stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah, and Harry Kane, there are also some players named for the first time such as Bukayo Saka, Jamal Musiala, Julian Alvarez…
Last year, Messi was not on the shortlist for the first time since 2005. But this year, Messi is the number 1 candidate for the 2023 Golden Ball award when he had a successful season at PSG (above). personal aspect), before leaving to move to Inter Miami and especially winning the world championship with Argentina.
However, Erling Haaland is also considered capable of winning after a successful first season with Man City, with a historic “treble” and a series of individual awards, including 2 Top Scorer awards. Premier League and Champions League nets. Besides Haaland, his other seven Man City teammates nominated are Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Ruben Dias, Julian Alvarez, Josko Gvardiol, Bernardo Silva, and Illkay Gundogan (who currently plays for Barcelona).
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the stars who are winning the most Golden Balls in history, as they have won 7 and 5 times respectively. Last year, the Golden Ball was awarded to Karim Benzema, who currently plays for Al-Ittihad.
The men’s Golden Ball will be voted on by 180 journalists from around the world, each representing a different country.
They ranked their top five players on a shortlist of 30 in order of merit. The first-ranked player receives 5 points, the second-ranked player receives 4 4 points…
The overall winner is confirmed by the highest total number of votes. In case of equal points, the Golden Ball is awarded to the person with the most first-place votes.
In the women’s category, it is not surprising that Spain contributes many faces to the list of 20 candidates. Among them are World Cup heroes such as Redondo, Carmona, Paralluelo, and Bonmati. Among them, Bonmati is considered the number one candidate for the Golden Ball award for women. This 25-year-old midfielder shines in both Barca and Spain national team colors. She was also awarded the title of Best Player in the 2023 World Cup.
List of nominees for the 2023 Golden Ball for men and women
List of nominations for Yasin and Kopa awards
Not only appearing on the nomination list for the 2023 Men’s Golden Ball Award, Bellingham and Musiala are also on the Kopa (Best Young Player) race list, facing off against three Barcelona stars, Gavi, Pedri and Alejandro Balde. like newly debuted striker MU, Rasmus Hojlund.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s hero Emiliano Martinez will compete with Ter Stegen, Courtois, Maignan, Bounou, Ramsdale, Onana, Ederson, Brice Samba, and Livakovic for the Yashin (Best Goalkeeper) award.