Since its inception in 1956, Ballon d’Or reigned as the most glamorous award given to the best footballer of the world by the French Football, a football magazine.
This year’s nominees have been revealed and Ballon d’Or is on full swing!
Messi and Ronaldo are the superhuman pairs who dominated the title for nearly a decade as the winner and runner-up. The last winner out of this unprecedented duopoly is Kaka, the Brazilian superstar. Ronaldo and Messi now have five Ballon d’Or apiece and with both of them underperforming for their respective nations in the World Cup, the world may see a new star rising in place of the duo for the highest individual honor in football.
Apart from Ronaldo and Messi who were once again nominated, Modric, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard, and Kylian Mbappe have also joined the list this year. Liverpool is well represented with Allison, Robert Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane named for the title. Despite his troubles at the Manchester United, Paul Pogba is also nominated this year.
One more interesting fact of this year’s Ballon d’Or award is that a woman will lift up this prestigious individual trophy for the first time. Fran Kirby and Lucy Bronze battle for inaugural women’s award this time along with other lady players.
The winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or award will be announced on December third by France Football. Let us wait and see if anyone could break up Messi-Ronaldo dominance at Ballon d’Or 2018!
