For the first time in twenty-one years, neither of the superstars is on the short-list of candidates, but Olympic and European winners Spain has six players on the list.
England’s Jude Bellingham is among the thirty footballers nominated for this year’s men’s Ballon d’Or – the first time since 2003 neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo have featured.
This year, too, five-time winner superstar Ronaldo of Portugal was not in the nomination list, while Messi, who won the award a record eighth time in 2023 and has been nominated sixteen times, was not included despite Argentina’s Copa America victory.
Six players from Spain, the reigning champions of Euro 2024, have been nominated: Nico Williams, Alejandro Grimaldo, Dani Olmo, Rodri, and Dani Carvajal, a 17-year-old Barcelona winger who also won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
Real has seven players nominated in total, including Kylian Mbappe, who just joined from Paris St. Germain. The other two nominations for the Spanish team are Bellingham and Vinicius Junior of Brazil.
Aside from Bellingham, England, who finished second to Spain in the 2024 European Championship, has five other nominees: Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, and Phil Foden.
At the European Championship, Rodri—who was chosen player of the tournament—said his team deserved to have a player win the Ballon d’Or.
