Ballon d'Or: Lionel Messi vying for seventh award; Cristiano Ronaldo among nominees

Ballon d'Or: Lionel Messi vying for seventh award; Cristiano Ronaldo among nominees

France Football has revealed the 30-man shortlist for their annual Ballon d’Or prize.

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To no one’s surprise leading favourites Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski are selected with the coronation ceremony taking place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on November 29.

No fewer than five members of Italy’s successful Euro 2020 squad are featured with Jorginho, the recently crowned UEFA Men’s Player of the Year, being the outside pick having also played a pivotal role in Chelsea’s second European Cup-winning campaign.

The brainchild of sports writer Gabriel Hanot, this prestigious award which honours those who have performed exceptionally well across the past 12 months has been given out every year between 1956 and 2019 — but was cancelled in 2020 — with Sir Stanley Matthews taking home the inaugural ‘golden ball’.

For several weeks now there’s been a lot of talk about who’ll succeed 2019 winner Messi who is chasing a record-extending seventh title. Below are the 2021 contenders.

Ballon d’Or 2021 nominees:

  • Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City/Algeria)

  • N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea/France)

  • Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund/Norway)

  • Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)

  • Mason Mount (Chelsea/England)

  • Harry Kane (Tottenham/England)

  • Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain/Italy)

  • Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/France)

  • Raheem Sterling (Manchester City/England)

  • Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan/Italy)

  • Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain/Argentina)

  • Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United/Portugal)

  • Pedri (Barcelona/Spain)

  • Luka Modrić (Real Madrid/Croatia)

  • Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus/Italy)

  • Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium)

  • Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain/Brazil)

  • Rúben Dias (Manchester City/Portugal)

  • Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan/Argentina)

  • Simon Kjær (Milan/Denmark)

  • Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Poland)

  • Jorginho (Chelsea/Italy)

  • Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)

  • César Azpilicueta (Chelsea/Spain)

  • Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea/Belgium)

  • Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United/Portugal)

  • Gerard Moreno (Villarreal/Spain)

  • Phil Foden (Manchester City/England)

  • Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain/France)

  • Luis Suárez (Atlético Madrid/Uruguay)