Ballon d’Or 2024: A New Era of Contenders
The prestigious Ballon d’Or award, recognizing the world’s best male footballer, has revealed its 30 nominees for 2024.
Real Madrid duo Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior are the frontrunners, both having had remarkable seasons that culminated in winning La Liga and the UEFA Champions League. While Bellingham scored 23 goals, Vinicius netted 24.
Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal will all be hoping to finish high in the final rankings. Many expected Messi to be nominated after winning the Copa America again with Argentina.
However, the 37-year-old player was not on the list of nominees. Also missing was Ronaldo, who missed out in 2023, the first time in 21 years that neither has been shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or.
Ballon d’or 2024 nominees
- Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid/England
- Ruben Dias – Man City/Portugal
- Phil Foden – Man City/England
- Federico Valverde – Real Madrid/Uruguay
- Emiliano Martinez – Aston Villa/Argentina
- Erling Haaland – Man City/Norway
- Nico Williams – Athletic Club/Spain
- Granit Xhaka – Bayer Leverkusen/Switzerland
- Artem Dovbyk – Girona/Roma/Ukraine
- Toni Kroos – Real Madrid/Germany
- Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid/Brazil
- Dani Olmo – RB Leipzig/Barcelona/Spain
- Florian Wirtz – Bayer Leverkusen/Germany
- Martin Odegaard – Arsenal/Norway
- Mats Hummels – Borussia Dortmund/Roma/Germany
- Rodri – Man City/Spain
- Harry Kane – Bayern Munich/England
- Declan Rice- Arsenal/England
- Vitinha – PSG/Portugal
- Cole Palmer – Chelsea/England
- Dani Carvajal – Real Madrid/Spain
- Lamine Yamal – Barcelona/Spain
- Bukayo Saka – Arsenal/England
- Hakan Calhanoglu – Inter/Turkey
- William Saliba – Arsenal/France
- Kylian Mbappe – PSG/Real Madrid/France
- Lautaro Martinez – Inter/Argentina
- Ademola Lookman – Atalanta/Nigeria
- Antonio Rudiger – Real Madrid/Germany
- Alejandro Grimaldo – Bayer Leverkusen/Spain
