Messi fail to make ballon d’Or shortlist
For the first time in 17 years, the six time winner Lionel Messi was not selected for the Ballon d’Or.
The 30-man shortlist for the most esteemed individual award in football was revealed by France Football on Friday, and Messi failed to make the cut for the first time since 2005.
However, Messi’s difficult period at Paris Saint-Germain, by his high standards, seems to have coincided with the previously unthinkable. Longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo did make the cut. Neymar, a PSG teammate, was also left out.
With 15 of the 30 nominees being Premier League players, the shortlist is dominated by them. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, and Harry Kane are all English players.
Foden is one of six Manchester City players on the list, which also includes new addition Erling Haaland, as well as the recently-departing Sadio Mane and the five members of the Liverpool squad: Mohamed Salah, Luiz Diaz, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk, and Darwin Nunez.
The full shortlist:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Karim Benzema
Joao Cancelo
Casemiro
Thibaut Courtois
Kevin De Bruyne
Luis Diaz
Fabinho
Phil Foden
Erling Haaland
Sebastien Haller
Harry Kane
Joshua Kimmich
Rafael Leao
Robert Lewandowski
Riyad Mahrez
Mike Maignan
Sadio Mane
Kylian Mbappe
Luka Modric
Christopher Nkunku
Darwin Nunez
Cristiano Ronaldo
Antonio Rudiger
Mohamed Salah
Bernardo Silva
Heung-Min Son
Virgil van Dijk
Vinicius Jr
Dusan Vlahovic