Six-time champion For the first time in 17 years, Lionel Messi has not been nominated for the Ballon d’Or.
The 30-man shortlist for the most prestigious individual award in football was announced on Friday by France Football, and Messi missed the cut for the first time since 2005.
Long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo was included, but Messi’s difficult spell at Paris Saint-German appears to have coincided with the previously unthinkable. Neymar, a PSG teammate, was also left out.
Premier League stars dominate the list, accounting for 16 of the 30 nominees.
The complete shortlist is listed below in alphabetical order:
- Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Karim Benzema
- Joao Cancelo
- Casemiro
- Thibaut Courtois
- Kevin De Bruyne
- Luis Diaz
- Fabinho
- Phil Foden
- Erling Haaland
- Sebastien Haller
- Harry Kane
- Joshua Kimmich
- Rafael Leao
- Robert Lewandowski
- Riyad Mahrez
- Mike Maignan
- Sadio Mane
- Kylian Mbappe
- Luka Modric
- Christopher Nkunku
- Darwin Nunez
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Antonio Rudiger
- Mohamed Salah
- Bernardo Silva
- Heung-Min Son
- Virgil van Dijk
- Vinicius Jr
- Dusan Vlahovic
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