The Ballon d’Or is Almost Here: Who Will Take Home the Coveted Prize?
The Ballon d’Or is fast approaching, and while football is a team sport, this prestigious night gives the great and the good a chance to bask in individual glory. Since 1956, when England’s Stanley Matthews won the inaugural award while playing for Blackpool, the football world has gathered annually to celebrate the best player of the year.
For the past 15 years, the Ballon d’Or has been dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, with only Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Karim Benzema managing to break their stranglehold on the award. However, with no former winners nominated this year, the 2024 edition could bring fresh intrigue and new faces to the podium.
As always, speculation is rife about who will take home the trophy, and while it promises to be an exciting edition, history has shown that controversy and “robberies” are never far from the Ballon d’Or conversation.
Here are the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees in alphabetical order:
| Player | Nationality | Club | |
| 1 | Jude Bellingham | England | Real Madrid |
| 2 | Hakan Calhanoglu | Turkey | Inter Milan |
| 3 | Dani Carvajal | Spain | Real Madrid |
| 4 | Ruben Dias | Portugal | Manchester City |
| 5 | Artem Dovbyk | Ukraine | Girona/Roma |
| 6 | Phil Foden | England | Manchester City |
| 7 | Alejandro Grimaldo | Spain | Bayern Leverkusen |
| 8 | Erling Haaland | Norway | Manchester City |
| 9 | Mats Hummels | Germany | Borussia Dortmund |
| 10 | Harry Kane | England | Bayern Munich |
| 11 | Toni Kroos | Germany | Real Madrid |
| 12 | Ademola Lookman | Nigeria | Atalanta |
| 13 | Emiliano Martinez | Argentina | Aston Villa |
| 14 | Lautaro Martinez | Argentina | Inter Milan |
| 15 | Kylian Mbappe | France | Paris Saint-Germain/Real Madrid |
| 16 | Martin Odegaard | Norway | Arsenal |
| 17 | Dani Olmo | Spain | RB Leipzig/Barcelona |
| 18 | Cole Palmer | England | Chelsea |
| 19 | Declan Rice | England | Arsenal |
| 20 | Rodri | Spain | Manchester City |
| 21 | Antonio Rudiger | Germany | Real Madrid |
| 22 | Bukayo Saka | England | Arsenal |
| 23 | William Saliba | France | Arsenal |
| 24 | Federico Valverde | Uruguay | Real Madrid |
| 25 | Vinicius Junior | Brazil | Real Madrid |
| 26 | Vitinha | Portugal | Paris Saint-Germain |
| 27 | Nico Williams | Spain | Athletic Club |
| 28 | Florian Wirtz | Germany | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 29 | Granit Xhaka | Switzerland | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 30 | Lamine Yamal | Spain | Barcelona |
