There are 30 known Ballon d’Or finalists. The final result will be released in Paris on 30 October. Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne are the big favourites. The 30 names include several Frenchmen, namely Benzema, Mbappe, Griezmann and Kolo Muani.
Who will replace Karim Benzema on 30 October? In any case the first element of the response was the unveiling of the list of 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or this Wednesday. The defending champion, Karim Benzema is present but not the favourite. Three names seem prominent in this list: Argentine world champion Lionel Messi, and Manchester City duo, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, authors of historic hat-tricks in the history of the Citizens (Champions League, Premier League). FA Cup).
Four French representatives including the indispensable Kylian Mbappé
Apart from Karim Benzema, there are many French in this list of 30 names. Obviously, Kylian Mbappe, who authored an outstanding World Cup with his hat-trick in the final and became the top scorer in PSG history last season, belongs on this list. Like Randle Kolo Muani, very valuable in the World Cup and decisive last season with ‘Atlético de Madrid’ after a great season in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt (23 goals and 14 assists in 45 games in all competitions).
Well helped by a historic treble, Manchester City field eight candidates in the list of 30. Apart from Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, we get Julian Alvarez, who won everything last year, Ruben Dias, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Jose Guardiol (arrived during the summer transfer window) and Ilkay Gundogan (now at FC Barcelona) ).
Argentina represented well, Naples too
World Cup winners Argentina are also very well represented. In addition to Messi and Alvarez, the Albiceleste can bet on their goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, and Lautaro Martinez, a previous Champions League finalist with Inter Milan.
Emiliano Martinez is not the only goalkeeper on the list as Yacine Bounnou, the World Cup opener in Qatar with Morocco and Europa League winner with Sevilla, is in the 30 finalists, as are league champions Andre Onana.
Thanks to their excellent season in Serie A and their historic title, Napoli is represented by Victor Osimhen and Khvitcha Kvartskhelia, then, to a lesser extent, by Kim Min-jae, who left for Bayern Munich during the summer transfer window. .
Unlike Ronaldo and Neymar, Modric is still there
In Ballon d’Or 2018, Luka Modric is still among the 30 finalists after five years. There he met his Real Madrid teammates, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Júnior.
Finally, Nicolo Barella from Inter Milan, Robert Lewandowski from FC Barcelona, Mohamed Salah from Liverpool, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka from Arsenal, Jamal Musiala from Bayern Munich and Harry Kane (ex-Tottenham) complete the list.
Note the absence of many iconic players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Thibaut Courtois, Rodrigo, Olivier Giroud, Marcus Rashford, Riyad Mahrez or even Rafael Leao.
List of 30 candidates:
Julian Alvarez (Manchester City / Argentina)
Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan / Italy)
Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid / England)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and Al-Ittihad / France)
Yassin Bounou (Sevilla FC and Al-Hilal / Morocco)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium)
Ruben Dias (Manchester City / Portugal)
Antoine Griezmann (Atletico de Madrid / France)
Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City and FC Barcelona / Germany)
Josco Guardiol (RB Leipzig and Manchester City / Croatia)
Erling Haaland (Manchester City / Norway)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich / England)
Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt and Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Naples/Georgia)
Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona/Poland)
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa / Argentina)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan / Argentina)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain/France)
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami/Argentina)
Kim Min-jae (Naples and Bayern Munich/South Korea)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia)
Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich/Germany)
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal/Norway)
Andre Onana (Inter Milan and Manchester United/Cameroon)
Victor Osimhen (Naples/Nigeria)
Rodri (Manchester City / Spain)
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal/England)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City / Portugal)
Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Brazil)