For the first time in 17 years, seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi was not part of the 30-man list of nominees for the prestigious award. The Argentinian superstar won the award in two consecutive editions – 2019 and 2021 – that made him the only player who won the award more than five times. His Paris Saint-Germain teammate Neymar was also not in the list. Catch our live football predictions here!
The 35-year-old forward led his former side Barcelona to the Copa Del Rey and his national team Argentina to the Copa America title in 2021 that made him win the 2021 edition, beating Poland striker and now Barca player Robert Lewandowski. Following the controversial win, France Football, the French publication that runs the award and has overseen the voting since 1956, made changes in the criteria.
In the new nomination and voting criteria, the award period is now based on performances during the previous season instead of the calendar year. For this edition, the player’s performance between August 1, 2021, and July 31, 2022 will be the basis of the award. Messi left La Liga giants to join PSG at the start of last season, scoring just six league goals in 26 league games during the campaign.
“The new criteria for the Ballon d’Or were unfavorable to him [Messi]: disappearance of the criterion of a player’s entire career, and new periodicity, modeled on a season of football and no longer over a calendar year, which does not make it possible to integrate the Copa America of July 11, 2021,” France Football’s deputy editor-in-chief Emmanuel Bojan explained.
In addition, the new rule also indicates consideration of player’s behavior and fair play during season, as well as tighter media voting panels. The new panel will be limited to only journalists from the top 100 nations in the men’s FIFA world rankings for the men’s awards, and media from the top 50 nations in the women’s FIFA world rankings. Five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) is part of the list.
The list also features top performers of last season, including Lewandowski (formerly Bayern), Kylian Mbappé (PSG), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Erling Haaland (formerly Dortmund), Sadio Mané (formerly Liverpool), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), and Premier League Golden Boot winners Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) and Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur).
In the women’s contest, Chelsea’s Australian star Sam Kerr, who became the first female player on the cover of EA Sports’ FIFA 23, will try to dethrone last year’s winner, Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas. They are joined by Champions League winner Catarina Macario (Lyon) and Washington Spirit’s talisman Trinity Rodman. Euro 2022 winner Golden Boot recipient Beth Mead is also likely to be a contender.
The other top names in the women’s list are Millie Bright (Chelse), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Selma Bacha (Lyon), Kadidiatou Diani (PSG), Marie-Antoinette Katoto (PSG), Wendie Renard (Lyon), Christiane Endler (Lyon), Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg), Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona), Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg), Fridolina Rolfo (Bayern Munich) among others. The 2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony will be held at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on October 17.
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