(Football news) France Football has announced its 30 man nominees list for this year's Ballon D'or. The prestigious award has gone through some changes this season as the performance of a particular season is taken into account instead of a calendar year. The big news is that Lionel Messi is not a part of the list for the first time since 2005. Messi has had difficulty adjusting to life at Paris Saint Germain which is the reason for his absence. His club teammate Neymar isn't a part of the list either but rival Cristiano Ronaldo has made the cut.
Ballon D'or Nominees list: Thibaut Courtois, Rafael Leao, Christopher Nkunku, Mohamed Salah, Joshua Kimmich, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Vinicius Junior, Bernardo Silva, Luis Diaz, Robert Lewandowski, Riyad Mahrez, Casemiro, Heung-Min Son, Fabinho, Karim Benzema, Mike Maignan, Harry Kane, Darwin Nunez, Phil Foden, Sadio Mane, Sebastien Haller, Luka Modric, Antonio Rudiger, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, Dusan Vlahovic, Virgil van Dijk, Joao Cancelo, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
According to where they played last season, the Premier League has the most representation with 15 nominees. La Liga has 5 nominations but all of them are from Real Madrid making them the 2nd most represented club along with Manchester who also have 5 nominees. Only Liverpool have more nominees with 6 players. The Bundesliga have 4 nominees while the Serie A has 3. Ligue 1, Eredivisie and Liga NOS have 1 nominee each. It is no secret that Karim Benzema is the outright favourite to win the prize this season. Real Madrid teammate Thibaut Courtois could be the closest in terms of competition.
France Football also announced the 10 shortlist for the Yashin Trophy which is awarded to the best goalkeeper. Alisson Becker, Ederson, Edouard Mendy, Hugo Lloris, Thibaut Courtois, Jan Oblak, Yassine Bounou, Manuel Neuer, Kevin Trapp and Mike Maignan have all been nominated. The Premier League once again has the most nominees with 4. La Liga has 3 representatives while Bundesliga and Serie A have 2 and 1 each. There would be very few people in the world who will not consider Courtois as the outright favourite to win after the season he has had. Brazilian duo Alisson and Ederson are likely to be the next in line to complete the top 3.
The Kopa trophy will be given to the best player under the age of 21. The 10 nominees for the award are Karim Adeyemi, Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Gavi, Ryan Gravenberch, Josko Gvardiol, Nuno Mendes, Jamal Musiala, Bukayo Saka, Florian Wirtz. The Premier League has only one nominee in the form of Saka. Bundesliga has the most nominees with 4 while La Liga has 2 representatives. Ligue 1, Eredivisie and the Austrian League have 1 nomination each. Picking a winner for this award will be tricky. In terms of collective trophies Camavinga has the most and he also has had some incredibly impactful performances. The only problem is that he has started a very few games this season which is not the case with the other nominees.
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