Premier League stars Erling Haaland, FIFA World Cup winner Lionel Messi and Paris Saint Germain star Kylian Mbappe are among the players who have been nominated for the men’s Ballon d’Or award, while English footballers Mary Earps, Millie Bright, Rachel Daly and Georgia Stanway have received nominations for the women’s award. Bukayo Saka, the England and Arsenal star, who was named as England men’s ‘Player of the Year’ has been nominated for the award due to his fine performances for Arsenal. He is joined by England teammate Jude Bellingham, who transferred from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid during the summer, after a fantastic season for club and country, as per reports. Eight players from Manchester City were nominated after a treble-winning season, led by its leading goal scorer of the previous season, Haaland, who won the UEFA’s Best Men’s Player award recently for 52 goals last season. He is joined by the likes of teammates Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Ilkay Gundogan. Gundogan though joined Barcelona this summer. Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, who recently joined the German giants from Tottenham Hotspurs, was also nominated after scoring 40 goals across club and country fixtures, but Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford found no place despite a season filled with 30-goal, 11 assists.
Other notable Premier League inclusions are Aston Villa’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez, Liverpool striker Mo Salah and Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard.
Lionel Messi, who recently joined the Major Soccer League (MLS) club Inter Miami, was also announced as a nominee.
He led Argentina to their third World Cup title last season, their first since 1986. PSG forward Mbappe is also nominated. But Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Al Nassr, a Saudi Arabian club, has not been included for the first time since 2003 and Neymar is another notable omission. Bellingham is also shortlisted for the Men’s Young Player of the Year award, for which new Manchester United signing Rasmus Hojlund, and Barca trio of Gavi, Pedri and Alejandro Balde are also nominated.
