BarcelonaSooner or later it had to happen. But what no one imagined was that it would be precisely now. Leo Messi, the footballer who has won the Ballon d’Or the most times, has been left out of the nominations to win this award. A fact that had not happened since 2005, when he was a young debutante of only 18 years. In fact, there is no Barça player either, with the exception of Robert Lewandowski, signed this summer from Bayern Munich.
France Footballthe French magazine that gives the most prestigious award in the world of football, published this Friday the list of 30 candidates to win the trophy in 2022. The award is for the whole calendar year, but for practical purposes it ends up recognizing the merits of footballers from January to the summer, which is when the big titles are played in the main European leagues.
Leo Messi is the current winner of this trophy, which he has taken home up to seven times. He is the one who has achieved it the most times. And the last time, in 2021, in a year in which he only won one title, the Copa del Rey, with Barça. But it was the year he signed for Paris Saint-Germain – a French club, like the magazine – and in which, due to the pandemic, there was also no clear candidate to take home the award.
However, Leo Messi’s first season in Paris has been very disappointing. To the point that The Team, the leading sports media in France, has often suspended him in his performances with PSG. This fact, added to a summer without a World Cup – the one in Qatar takes place in the winter – has meant that France Football ostracize Messi and not even consider him in the top 30.
Instead, the magazine does include Cristiano Ronaldo in the list. The Portuguese striker has also had a very discreet season at Manchester United, where he has not even been able to contribute to classifying the red devils for the Champions League.
Anyway, the 2022 Ballon d’Or seems to have an assigned owner, and it’s Karim Benzema. The French striker of Real Madrid was the architect for the whites to win the League and the Champions League. The list of 30 nominees will now go through journalists, selectors and national team captains, who will rate the players. In November France Football will announce the 3 finalists and in January the gala will be held to hand out the trophy.