Ballon d’Or 2021 nominees announced: Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski & Salah all nominated for football’s most coveted award
France Football has announced the list of nominees for the 2021 edition of the Ballon D’or after the coronavirus forced a break in 2020.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski, Mohammed Salah are among the nominees on the 30-man 2021 Ballon d’Or list to have been released by France Football for the best player in men’s football.
Other superstar performers include Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema and Romelu Lukaku.
A Golden Ball heading in the direction of any of those mentioned above would come as no surprise, but the likes of Euro 2020 winner Jorginho and his Chelsea team-mate N’Golo Kante also have their sights set on a shock win.
Full list of nominees
Cesar Azpilicueta, Nicolo Barella, Karim Benzema, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Bruno Fernandes, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Jorginho, Harry Kane, N’Golo Kante, Simon Kjaer, Robert Lewandowski, Romelu Lukaku, Riyad Mahrez, Lautaro Martinez, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Gerard Moreno, Mason Mount, Neymar, Pedri, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez.
Read: Ronaldo named Premier League Player of the month of September
Now that a 30-man list of top performers from the last 12 months has been compiled, the voting process will begin within a selection of international journalists, national team coaches and captains and will be polled to determine the winner, with each voter being asked to pick out their top five.
Once that process has been completed, the prestigious prize will be handed out at a glitzy ceremony in Paris on November 29.
France Football also released 20 nominees for the women’s award.
Full list of women nominees
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
France Football also announced a 10-man shortlists for two further awards: the Kopa Trophy, given to the best performing player under the age of 21, and the Yashine Trophy, given to the best goalkeeper.
The Kopa Trophy shortlist include: Mason Greenwood, Bukayo Saka, Pedri, Jeremy Doku, Ryan Gravenberch, Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Jude Bellingham, Giovanni Reyna, Nuno Mendes
The Yashine Trophy shortlist also include: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ederson, Kasper Schmeichel, Edouard Mendy, Keylor Navas, Emiliano Martínez, Manuel Neuer, Jan Oblak, Samir Handanovic
