Lionel Messi is bidding for a record-extending seventh men’s Ballon d’Or title and will have to beat competition from Cristiano Ronaldo after the pair were named among the 30 nominees for the 2021 award.
Sam Mewis is the only United States women’s national team player to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or Feminin, while Canada’s Olympic gold medal winning team have three players (Jessie Fleming, Ashley Lawrence and Christine Sinclair) on the 20 person shortlist.
Messi’s tally of six awards is more than any other player with only Ronaldo (five) having won more than three.
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Earlier this year, Messi won his first international honour as he led Argentina to a Copa America triumph in Brazil.
Among Messi’s biggest rivals is Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski, who broke Gerd Muller’s all-time single-season Bundesliga goal scoring record with 41 goals in the 2020-21 campaign.
The 2021 European Golden Shoe winner was the leading candidate for the Ballon d’Or in 2020 when he spearheaded Bayern’s Treble success, but the award was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho is another contender as he played a key role in his side’s Champions League triumph as well as Italy‘s victory at Euro 2020.
Champions League finalists Chelsea and Barcelona lead the nominations for the women’s award with five each. Barcelona, who won the Treble last season, are represented by Alexia Putellas, Sandra Panos, Lieke Martens, Irene Paredes and Jennifer Hermoso.
Magdalena Eriksson, Sam Kerr, Pernille Harder, Fleming and Fran Kirby are nominated for 2020-21 Women’s Super League winners Chelsea.
England leads the way in nominations for the Kopa Trophy, which celebrates the best men’s players who are under 21, with Bukayo Saka, Mason Greenwood and Jude Bellingham nominated.
USMNT and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Gio Reyna was also nominated along with Spain‘s Pedri
The Ballon d’Or is a yearly awarded, presided over by France Football. The men’s award was first handed out in 1956 to England’s Stanley Matthews, while the Ballon d’Or Feminin started in 2018 with Lyon‘s Ada Hegerberg the inaugural winner.
It runs parallel with FIFA’s The Best award, which started in 2016, carrying on from the FIFA World Player of the Year which stopped in 2009 as the honours merged for six years to create the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
Since 2008, one of Messi and Ronaldo have won the men’s award in every season apart from 2018, when it was awarded to Luka Modric. Last year was the first one since its inception where there was no winner.
Ballon d’Or
Riyad Mahrez
Ngolo Kante
Erling Haaland
Leonardo Bonucci
Mason Mount
Harry Kane
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Karim Benzema
Raheem Sterling
Nicolo Barella
Lionel Messi
Bruno Fernandes
Pedri
Luka Modric
Giorgio Chiellini
Kevin De Bruyne
Neymar
Ruben Dias
Lautaro Martinez
Simon Kjaer
Robert Lewandowski
Jorginho
Mohamed Salah
Cesar Azpilicueta
Romelu Lukaku
Cristiano Ronaldo
Gerard Moreno
Phil Foden
Kylian Mbappe
Luis Suarez
Ballon d’Or Feminin
Alexia Putellas
Magdalena Eriksson
Marie-Antoinette Katoto
Sam Kerr
Stina Blackstenius
Wendie Renard
Samantha Mewis
Pernille Harder
Vivianne Miedema
Sandra Panos
Lieke Martens
Jessie Fleming
Irene Paredes
Ashley Lawrence
Christine Sinclair
Ellen White
Christiane Endler
Jennifer Hermoso
Fran Kirby
Kadidiatou Diani
Kopa Trophy
Mason Greenwood,
Bukayo Saka
Pedri
Jeremy Doku
Ryan Gravenberch
Jamal Musiala
Florian Wirtz
Jude Bellingham
Giovanni Reyna
Nuno Mendes
Yachine Trophy
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Ederson
Kasper Schmeichel
Edouard Mendy
Thibaut Courtois