When this year’s ceremony to name the planet’s finest football player takes place in Paris on Monday, Spain’s World Cup-winning star Aitana Bonmati is predicted to win the women’s title. Lionel Messi is the favorite to win the eighth Ballon d’Or of his incredible career.
With a combined total of 12 wins between them, Messi and former rival Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the prestigious honor for the past 15 years.
Since Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or for the first time in 2008, only two other players have taken home the trophy: Karim Benzema won it last year after an incredible season with Real Madrid, and Luka Modric won it in 2018.
A recent modification that bases the award on a player’s performance throughout the previous season rather than the entire calendar year would help Messi.
Messi led Argentina to victory at the World Cup in Qatar the previous season, scoring seven goals and winning the best player award.
It was the pinnacle of his incredible career, and it’s likely to imply that Messi defeats the other 30 nominees, who present fierce opposition.
The Manchester City squad that won the FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, and English Premier League under Pep Guardiola includes seven players who are particularly noteworthy.
Erling Haaland stands out as the most likely contender among them, having already earned the UEFA Player of the Year title for the previous campaign with 52 goals in 53 appearances.
“I always said that the Ballon d’Or should be in two sections, one for Messi, and after that look for the other one,” Guardiola said recently.
“Haaland should win. We won the treble and he scored, I don’t know, 50 million goals.
“But of course if you tell me the worst season of Messi, it would be the best season for the rest of the players.
“Both deserve it, so what can I say? Selfishly I would say I want it to be Erling because he helped us to achieve what we achieved. I would love it.” The case for Mbappe?
Even if he won Ligue 1 with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, Messi’s season at Paris Saint-Germain was lackluster.
Prior to joining Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami earlier this year, he scored 21 goals for the French team, but it was obvious that he was never content in Paris, where he was occasionally even made fun of by his own fans.
At the very least, there is a case to be made for Mbappe’s time to come.
After scoring a stunning hat-trick in that thrilling final, he finished the World Cup as the leading scorer with eight goals, making him unquestionably PSG’s most important player with 41 goals.
The 24-year-old Mbappe is receiving a lot of support from the French government after he was awarded a trophy in Paris.
As an example, the manager of leading French club Lens, Franck Haise, last week did not hesitate when asked who he would vote for.
“Another Frenchman, Kylian Mbappe,” he said.
“Because he had such a complete season and he is an exceptional player. Even if I think it will be won by a player who won the World Cup, which I would not find jarring.”
Alas, the prize is voted for by a jury of one journalist per country from the top 100 nations in FIFA’s ranking.
The destination of the women’s prize seems even more clear cut.
The list of nominees features four members of the Spain team that lifted the Women’s World Cup in Sydney in August despite off-field turbulence including protests against the Spanish football federation and coach Jorge Vilda.
Alba Redondo, Salma Paralluelo and full-back Olga Carmona, who scored the winner in the final, are all shortlisted, but Bonmati appears untouchable.
The 25-year-old Barcelona midfielder lit up the tournament with her talent having already starred for her club as they won the Champions League.
So impressive has she been that Guardiola has likened her to another Barcelona great, Andres Iniesta.
Ordinarily, the likes of World Cup top scorer Hinata Miyazawa of Japan, or Australia’s Sam Kerr, would be credible contenders, but Bonmati’s success appears nailed on.
