Jude-Vinicius lead the 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist, without Messi and Ronaldo for the first time in 21 years
On September 4, France Football magazine announced the 30-man shortlist for the 2024 Ballon d’Or award. It is the first time since 2003 that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two superstars in the world of football, were not nominated for the award.
Messi’s omission is somewhat of a surprise. As the 37-year-old player from Inter Miami in Major League Soccer in the United States recently led Argentina to successfully defend their Copa America title, their third consecutive major trophy. Ronaldo, who currently plays for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, has not been in the running for the Ballon d’Or since last year.
The nominees for this year’s award are led by Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, two Real Madrid stars who helped their ufabet https://ufabet999.app teams win La Liga and the UEFA Champions League last season, scoring 23 and 24 goals respectively, while Jude’s England team also reached the final of the “Euro 2024” football tournament.
The 2024 Ballon d’Or nominees are as follows:
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 Bilbao/Spain), Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen/Switzerland), Artem Dovbyk (Girona/Ukraine), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid/Germany), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Germany), Dani Olmo (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 (Paris Saint-Germain/Portugal), Cole Palmer (Chelsea/England), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid/Spain), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal/England), Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan/Turkey), William Saliba (Arsenal/France), Kylian Mbappe (PSG/Real Madrid/France), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan/Argentina), Ademola Lookman (Atalanta/Nigeria), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid/Germany), Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen/Spain)