A record-extending eighth win for the Argentine skipper? Beginning of a new dawn with a first win for the Norwegian goal machine? Another winner from the midfield session?
With France Football set to announce the winner of the Ballon d’Or on October 30, questions are galore. The glory in Qatar has placed Lionel Andrés Messi in a strong position to win the coveted award for the eighth time. However, a spectacular treble-winning season with Manchester City has helped Erling Haaland become a strong contender. Here's a look at the story of football’s most prestigious individual award, past winners, major contenders for this edition, the selection process and more.
Major Contenders
On September 6 2023, France Football published a list of 30 nominees for the 2023 Ballon d’Or. Alongside the favourites Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland, the list included Kylian Mbappe who won the World Cup Golden Boot for being the top goal scorer of the tournament, 19-year-old English midfielder Jude Bellingham, English striker Harry Kane as well as treble-winning Manchester City midfielders and Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri.
Leo Messi remains the favourite to win his eighth Ballon d’Or after the 36-year-old captained Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar, scoring crucial goals in the knockout stages and a brace in the thrilling final against France. Messi also won the World Cup Golden Ball for being the best player of the tournament. He has scored a total of 38 goals and provided 25 assists for both club and country, winning the League 1 title and French Super Cup with the French club Paris Saint-Germain alongside winning the World Cup.
23-year-old Norwegian striker Erling Haaland who scored a sensational total of 56 goals and provided 10 assists, played a major role in winning the historic treble (UEFA Champions League, English Premier League and FA Cup) with Manchester City and is expected to provide stiff competition to the Argentinian. Haaland also broke the single-season Premier League scoring record during his debut campaign with Manchester City, scoring 36 goals from 35 matches.
Kylian Mbappe, Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Kane are some of the favourites to secure a podium finish.
The Selection Process
The 2023 Ballon d’Or will mark the 67th annual ceremony of the award presented by France Football magazine to the best footballer in the world for the 2022/23 season.
The Ballon d’Or winner is voted for by the journalists from FIFA’s 100 top-ranked member nations. Each journalist makes their top five picks from the 30-man shortlist with each ranking having a different point value. The player who receives the highest tally of points is named that year’s Ballon d’Or winner. The ballots are usually published by France Football on the weekend following the ceremony with the name of each media member, their outlet, and the players they voted for in the specific order they ranked them.
This will be only the second time in its 66-year history that the players are judged based on their performances and achievements over the course of a football season instead of the calendar year. The 2023 Ballon d’Or will be judged on the basis of the players’ performance for both their club and country in the 2022/23 season starting on 1 August 2022 and ending on 31 July 2023.
Past Winners
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the list of Ballon d’Or winners in recent years. Cristiano Ronaldo has won the award 5 times and Messi who is a major contender for this year’s award, currently holds the record for winning the most Ballon d’Or with 7. Messi is also the record holder for most consecutive wins, winning 4 Ballons d’Or between 2009 and 2012. Interestingly, between 2010 and 2015, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year.
Croatian midfielder Luka Modrić won it in 2018 for leading his country to the 2018 World Cup final in Russia, thereby ending the 10-year Messi-Ronaldo dominance. French striker Karim Benzema won the award in 2022 for his UEFA Champions League-winning season with the Spanish Club Real Madrid.
It might come as a surprise that footballing greats like Diego Maradona and Pele have not won the Ballon d’Or in their careers. This is because until 1995 players of non-European origin were not eligible to win the award. (In 2020, France Football hypothetically revised the list of Ballon d'Or winners by including non-European players -- making Pele and Maradona eligible for 7 and 2 'retrospective Ballons d’Or' awards.
The rule change in 1995 allowed non-European players to be considered for the award if they played for a European club and 2007 marked the moment when playing in European leagues no longer became a criterion for selection. Liberian striker George Weah became the first non-European player to win the award in 1995 and Brazilian striker Ronaldo became the first South American winner in 1997.