The 2022 Ballon d‘Or winner will be announced, putting football’s most coveted individual award back on the spotlight.
The selection for this year was presented by France Football, and Lionel Messi, the seven-time champion, is noticeably absent for the first time since 2005. Instead of a calendar year, the award is now based on performances during the season.
After leading Real Madrid to La Liga and Champions League triumphs last season, Karim Benzema is now the overwhelming favourite to win the Ballon d’Or. He will join teammate Luka Modric as the only players other than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the prize since 2008.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, and Harry Kane are the three English players nominated, and there are a lot of Premier League players on the 30-man shortlist. Although Erling Haaland’s outstanding start to the season will not help him in the voting, he appears to be in a strong position to compete for the 2023 prize.
Ballon d’Or shortlist in full
Club played for last season in brackets
- Trent Alexander–Arnold (Liverpool)
- Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
- Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
- Casemiro (Real Madrid)
- Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
- Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
- Luis Diaz (Porto, Liverpool)
- Fabinho (Liverpool)
- Phil Foden (Manchester City)
- Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
- Sebastien Haller (Ajax)
- Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
- Rafael Leao (Milan)
- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
- Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
- Mike Maignan (Milan)
- Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
- Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
- Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
- Darwin Nunez (Benfica)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Manchester United)
- Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea)
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
- Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
- Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
- Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
- Dusan Vlahovic (Fiorentina, Juventus)
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