Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi paid a high price for an underwhelming first season with Paris Saint-Germain when he was left off the 30-strong record for this 12 months’s coveted soccer award.
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Lucy Bronze, who was runner-up in 2019, is one in all three members of England’s Euro-winning squad to be short-listed for the ladies’s award.
Messi, who received the title final 12 months, had been an ever-present amongst the nominations since 2006 and a daily characteristic within the prime three since 2007 excluding 2018.
But Lionel Messi, 35, has missed out on the 2022 award following his swap from Barcelona to the French capital.
A change within the format has additionally labored towards the Argentine celebrity with the Ballon d’Or not acknowledging one of the best participant over a calendar 12 months.
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Instead, it’s based mostly on a season’s document highlighting “the individual performances” and the “decisive and impressive character” of the nominees, based on the factors.
After leaving Barcelona in the summertime of 2021, Messi was unable to stamp his genius on a PSG workforce determined for a Champions League title.
The French champions suffered a last-16 exit by the hands of eventual winners Real Madrid.
Karim Benzema favorite to succeed Lionel Messi
In complete, Messi scored solely 11 objectives for PSG together with his comparatively detached membership type failing to impress France Football journal, the organisers of the Ballon d’Or which might be awarded in Paris on October 17.
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PSG team-mate Neymar additionally misses out after a season the place he scored 13 objectives in 28 matches.
The the rest of the record of nominees throws up few surprises.
French worldwide striker Karim Benzema is the overwhelming favorite after being the architect of Real Madrid’s 14th Champions League title.
He completed the European marketing campaign with 15 objectives.
Benzema is more likely to turn out to be the fifth French winner after Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991) and Zinedine Zidane (1998).
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In the 2021/2022 season, Benzema scored 44 objectives in 46 appearances for a Madrid facet who additionally received the Liga title.
His aim in Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt within the European Super Cup took the 34-year-old to 324 objectives for the Spanish giants.
That edged him forward of Raul within the membership’s all-time record with solely Cristiano Ronaldo in entrance of him with 450.
“He’s in line for the Ballon d’Or. Is there any doubt? For me, no,” mentioned Real coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Manchester United’s Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, is nominated once more this 12 months.
Benzema is joined on the 30-man record by teammates Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, 2018 winner Luka Modric, Vinicius and former Chelsea participant Antonio Rudiger.
Beaten Champions League finalists Liverpool have seven gamers nominated, essentially the most of any membership.
They are Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Sadio Mane, since transferred to Bayern Munich, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk.
There is a 20-strong record for the ladies’s Ballon d’Or together with English stars Bronze, Millie Bright and Arsenal ahead Beth Mead who received the Golden Boot on the girls’s Euro.
France have 4 nominations – Selma Bacha, Kadidiatou Diani, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Wendie Renard.
Defending champion Alexia Putellas, who was dominated out of the Euros with a final minute damage, and Norwegian star Ada Hegerberg, the primary winner of the prize in 2018, are additionally within the working.
Men’s shortlist:
Thibaut Courtois, Rafael Leao, Christopher Nkunku, Mohamed Salah, Joshua Kimmich, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Vinicius Junior, Bernardo Silva, Luis Diaz, Robert Lewandowski, Riyad Mahrez, Casemiro, Heung-Min Son, Fabinho, Karim Benzema, Mike Maignan, Harry Kane, Darwin Nunez, Phil Foden, Sadio Mane, Sebastien Haller, Luka Modric, Antonio Rudiger, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, Dusan Vlahovic, Virgil van Dijk, Joao Cancelo, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland
Women’s shortlist
Asisat Oshoala, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Millie Bright, Trinity Rodman, Ada Hegerberg, Selma Bacha, Fridolina Rolfo, Vivianne Miedema, Lucy Bronze, Sam Kerr, Christiane Endler, Lena Oberdorf, Kadidiatou Diani, Catarina Macario, Alexia Putellas, Alexandra Popp, Aitana Bonmati, Wendie Renard, Alex Morgan, Beth Mead.
Kopa Trophy
Jamal Musiala, Karim Adeyemi, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Eduardo Camavinga, Gavi, Ryan Gravenberch, Nuno Mendes, Josko Gvardiol, Florian Wirtz
Yashin Trophy
Yassine Bounou, Alisson Becker, Thibaut Courtois, Ederson, Mike Maignan, Edouard Mendy, Manuel Neuer, Jan Oblak, Kevin Trapp, Hugo Lloris
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
