 "Ballon d'OR")
Fifa World Cup winner Lionel Messi, Premier League star Erling Haaland and Paris Saint Germain player Kylian Mbappe are among the players who have been nominated for this year's men's Ballon d'Or award.
Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi, who plays for Inter Miami FC, is back in contention after being out from the nomination last year. Interestingly, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award five times, does not feature in the list this year. Neymar Jr. also could not make it to the list.
Ronaldo now plays for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
France Football magazine has given out the award to men every year since 1956 and to women each year since 2018 when Ada Hegerberg became the first female winner though both were canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
This year, Spanish World Cup winner Aitana Bonmati, English footballers Mary Earps, Millie Bright, Rachel Daly and Georgia Stanway, among others, have received nominations for the women's award.
Bonmati was last week named the UEFA Women's Player of the Year. She is one of six female nominees from Spain. Bonmati led Spain to the Women's World Cup title last month.
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"Grateful & proud to be nominated alongside great players," Bonmati said on social media.
Bukayo Saka, the England and Arsenal star, who was named England men's "Player of the Year" has been nominated for the award due to his fine performances for Arsenal. He is joined by England teammate Jude Bellingham, who transferred from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid during the summer, after a fantastic season for club and country, as per Sky Sports.
Eight players from Manchester City were nominated after a treble-winning season, led by its leading goalscorer of the previous season, Haaland, who won the UEFA's Best Men's Player award for 52 goals last season. He is joined by the likes of teammates Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Ilkay Gundogan. Gundogan though joined Barcelona this summer.
Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, who recently joined the German giants from Tottenham Hotspurs, was also nominated after scoring 40 goals across club and country fixtures, but Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford found no place despite a season filled with 30-goal, 11 assists.
Other notable Premier League inclusions are Aston Villa's World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez, Liverpool striker Mo Salah and Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard.
Bellingham is also shortlisted for the Men's Young Player of the Year award, for which new Manchester United signing Rasmus Hojlund, and Barca trio of Gavi, Pedri and Alejandro Balde are also nominated.
Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale has received a Goalkeeper of the Year nomination along with Martinez. They will face some heavy competition from Manchester City's Ederson and former Inter Milan and current Manchester United goalie Andre Onana.
The winners will be announced on October 30 in a ceremony at Paris's Theatre du Chatelet. Here's the full list of nominations:
Nominations for Ballon d'Or:
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Martin Odegaard (Arsenal), Erling Haaland (Man City), Bernardo Silva (Man City), Kevin De Bruyne (Man City), Rodri (Man City), Julian Alvarez (Man City), Ruben Dias (Man City), Josko Gvardiol (Man City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Andre Onana (Man United), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Randal Kolo Muani (PSG), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Kim Min-Jae (Bayern Munich), Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad), Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona), Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona), Victor Osimhen (Napoli), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli), Nicola Barella (Inter Milan), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal)
Women's Ballon d'Or:
Mary Earps (Man United), Millie Bright(Chelsea), Rachel Daly (Aston Villa), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Sam Kerr (Chelsea), Guro Reiten (Chelsea), Katie Mccabe (Arsenal), Khadija Shaw (Man City), Jill Roord (Man City), Yui Hasegawa (Man City), Hayley Raso (Real Madrid), Amanda Ilestedt (Arsenal), Hinata Miyazawa (Man United), Daphne Van Domselaar (Aston Villa), Mapi Leon (Barcelona), Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona), Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona), Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona), Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona), Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona), Olga Ramona (Real Madrid), Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid), Alba Redondo (Levante), Wendie Renard (Lyon), Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon), Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg), Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg), Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg), Debinha (Kansas City), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns).
(With agency inputs)
