The French magazine "France Football" announced on Friday the names of the nominees for the Ballon d'Or, awarded annually to the best player in the world. The final list includes 30 players as follows:
1. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
2. Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid)
3. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
4. Luis Diaz (Liverpool)
5. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich - Barcelona)
6. Mike Maignan (Milan)
7. Harry Kane (Tottenham)
8. Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
9. Phil Foden (Manchester City)
10. Sadio Mane (Liverpool - Bayern Munich)
11. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
12. Rafael Leao (Milan)
13. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
14. Christopher Nkunku (Leipzig)
15. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
16. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
17. Heung-Min Son (Tottenham)
18. Casemiro (Real Madrid)
19. Fabinho (Liverpool)
20. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
21. Sebastian Haller (Ajax Amsterdam)
22. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
23. Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid - Chelsea)
24. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
25. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
26. Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
27. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
28. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
29. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
30. Erling Haaland (Manchester City - Borussia Dortmund).
The French magazine decided not to link the World Cup competitions with the Ballon d'Or this year, as the voting will depend on performance during the football season, from August 2021 to July 2022, instead of the calendar year as was followed from January to December of the same year. The winner of the Ballon d'Or for this year will be announced on October 17 in Paris. Argentine Lionel Messi, the striker for Paris Saint-Germain, won the award in 2021 for the seventh time in his career (a record), but he is absent from this year’s final list due to a decline in his form after moving from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
