Soon enough, a list of 30 footballers will be announced as nominees for the 2023 Ballon d'Or award, but only two players stand a realistic chance of scooping up the sport's most prestigious individual prize in October.
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30 names! Really?
France Football, the owners of the beautiful and shiny Ballon d'Or, will announce their unnecessarily long 30-man shortlist on 6 September, with the winner then set to be revealed in Paris on 30 October. Last year, it was ex-Real Madrid captain Karim Benzema who lifted the historic award at a ceremony in his country of birth after he helped inspire Los Blancos to a 14th UEFA Champions League title.
Nobody could have argued that Benzema, who has since joined Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, did not deserve to wrap his hands around the Ballon d'Or and lift it with pride following his remarkable exploits in Europe and LaLiga, but things will be remarkably different this time around!
A contest between two…
Erling Haaland scored 52 goals as Manchester City claimed the big treble, while Lionel Messi put on a once-in-a-lifetime showing for Argentina at the 2022 FIFA World Cup to help win the title for his country a third time. While Kylian Mbappe might have scored 41 times for Paris Saint-Germain and performed brilliantly for France in Qatar, Haaland and the Frenchman's former club teammate should realistically be the only two players in with a shout this time around.
It should be expected that several City players, coached by the great Pep Guardiola, will accompany Haaland on the list of hopefuls, namely Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and excellent holding midfielder Rodri, who, under his compatriot, has become arguably the world's best deep-plying playmaker. The 27-year-old will have been disappointed with Spain's contribution, or lack thereof, in the Middle East last year, but there is little doubting that his form over the past 12 months will be rewarded with an impressive finish when the order of the list is read out at the end of October. Elsewhere, Vinicius Junior impressed as he ended the 2022/23 campaign with 44 goal contributions for Los Blancos and won three trophies – the Copa del Rey, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup – but fell slightly short of his dazzling best at the World Cup.
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Context matters
While many of the players who will be named on the list represented their countries at the World Cup, City's hitman didn't even play in the tournament after Norway failed to qualify! If Mbappe might have stood a better chance of winning the Ballon d'Or had Emiliano Martinez not saved Randal Kolo Muani's effort from almost point-blank range in extra-time in the final, some have suggested Haaland not being involved in Qatar should count against him. That is, however, perhaps an unfair argument given the weight and importance of his achievements in his debut season at City, a campaign he finished with more goals in the Champions League and Premier League than any other player.
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