Messi Ballon d’Or 2022: Why Messi Fails to Make Ballon d’Or 2022 List
Paris Saint-Germain superstar and Argentina Lionel Messi failed to make the prestigious France Football magazine Ballon d’Or 30-man nominees shortlist for this year’s edition, while his longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo made the list, after scoring 24 goals for Manchester United last season.
For the 18th time in a row, the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (37) is one of the nominees for the Ballon d’Or, unlike the Argentinian Lionel Messi (35), defending champion and seven-time winner of the trophy fails to make the list.
On Friday, the 30-man shortlist for this year’s award was announced by the event’s organizers, France Football. Additionally, they announced the nominees for the Kopa Trophy and Yashin Trophy for women. On October 17, one month before the World Cup begins, the ceremony will take place.
As a result of his contributions to Real Madrid‘s victories in the Champions League, La Liga, Supercopa de Espana, and UEFA Super Cup during the last 12 months, Karim Benzema is the overwhelming favorite to take home the award. The other favorites are Sadio Mane and Robert Lewandowski.
Ever since 2005, when Messi was nominated first for the award, this is the first time he didn’t make the 30-man shortlist, with him winning seven times out of those years. However, Since 2005, Ronaldo, 37, has appeared on every Ballon d’Or shortlist and has won the award five times.
Messi Ballon d’Or 2022: Why He Misses On the 30-Man Shortlist
The last year, Messi, 35, set a record by winning seven, but he won’t add to that total this year. His rejection follows a season in which he only managed to score 11 goals for Paris Saint-Germain.
Nominated for the 2022 Ballon d’Or … ✨🌕
🇵🇹 @Cristiano@ManUtd#ballondor pic.twitter.com/EJkb7aK6yU
— Ballon d’Or #ballondor (@francefootball) August 12, 2022
Full List 2022 Ballon d’Or Nominees:
- Thibaut Courtois (Real Madird)
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
- Rafael Leao (AC Milan)
- Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
- Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
- Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)
- Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
- Luis Diaz (Liverpool)
- Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
- Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
- Casemiro (Real Madrid)
- Heung-Min Son (Tottenham)
- Fabinho (Liverpool)
- Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
- Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
- Harry Kane (Tottenham)
- Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
- Phil Foden (Manchester City)
- Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich)
- Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund)
- Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
- Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
- Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
- Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
- Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
- Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)