Bellingham is nominated for the Ballon d’Or, but neither Messi nor Ronaldo

The 30 players nominated for the men’s Ballon d’Or award on Wednesday included England’s Jude Bellingham. Notably, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo were among them, marking the first time since 2003.

Ronaldo of Portugal, who has won the trophy five times, was not nominated last year either. Argentina’s Copa America winner Messi, who won the trophy a record eight times in 2023 and has been nominated sixteen times, is not included.

Six players from Spain—the 2024 Champions—have been nominated, including Nico Williams, Alejandro Grimaldo, Dani Olmo, Rodri, and Dani Carvajal, a 17-year-old Barcelona winger who also won the Champions League with Real Madrid.

Real has seven players nominated in total, including Kylian Mbappe, who recently joined from Paris St. Germain. The other two nominees for the Spanish team are Vinicius Junior of Brazil and Bellingham.

Aside with Bellingham, England’s five other nominees for Euro 2024 are Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, and Phil Foden. England finished second to Spain in the competition.

Champions League champions Barcelona has six nominees overall for the women’s Ballon d’Or Feminin, including two-time winner Alexia Putellas and last year’s winner Aitana Bonmati.

The world’s finest player will be named during the 2024 Ballon d’Or Awards event, which will be held in Paris on October 28.