Leo Messitop winner in the history of Golden Ball (7) and who won the last two editions (2019 and 2021), is not part of the list of 30 nominees announced this Friday by the French magazine France Football, in charge of delivering the award since 1956, and it is news.
Rosario, captain of the Argentine National Team, did not have a great season in the Paris Saint Germain -if you compare it with his spectacular years at Barcelona- and he could only celebrate in the French league, a tournament with little taste for a club full of stars.
It is the first time since 2005 that Messi is not on the list of candidates. The fact that Also left out is the Brazilian Neymarhis teammate at PSG, while Kylian Mbappé was considered among the nominees .
The list of 30 nominees, without any Argentine, is led by Frenchman Karim Benzema, considered the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or to the best of the 2022 season. It is worth remembering that the Frenchman was the undisputed figure of Real Madrid champion of the Champions League last year.
France and Liverpool, in front
Among the nationalities of the nominees, France stands out, with four. They are followed by Brazil and England, with three, while Germany and Belgium have two representatives each. As for the clubs, Liverpool stands out with six ternadosfollowed by Real Madrid and Manchester City, with five each.
The 30 nominees
The Ballon d’Or 2022 will be delivered on October 17 And these are all the nominees:
- Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid)
- Casemiro (Brazil, Real Madrid)
- Fabinho (Brazil, Liverpool)
- Son Heung-Min (South Korea, Tottenham)
- Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, Manchester City)
- Vinicius Junior (Brazil, Real Madrid)
- Luis Diaz (Colombia, Liverpool)
- Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Bayern Munich)
- Bernardo Silva (Portugal, Manchester City)
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (England, Liverpool)
- Thibaut Courtois (Belgium, Real Madrid)
- Rafael Leao (Portugal, Milan)
- Joshua Kimmich (Germany, Bayern Munich)
- Christopher Nkunku (France, RB Leipzig)
- Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool)
Mike Maignan (France, Milan)
Sadio Mane (Senegal, Liverpool)
Erling Haaland (Norway, Borussia Dortmund)
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands, Liverpool)
Joao Cancelo (Portugal, Manchester City)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City)
Dušan Vlahović (Serbia, Fiorentina-Juventus)
Kylian Mbappe (France, PSG)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Manchester United)
Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, Chelsea)
Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid)
Sébastien Haller (Ivory Coast, Borussia Dortmund)
Phil Foden (England, Manchester City)
Darwin Nunez (Uruguay, Benfica)
Harry Kane (England, Tottenham)