The 30 players nominated for the 2023 Ballon d'Or

Santi Romero 1 year ago 107.2k |

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Last year's Ballon d'Or winner was former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. BeSoccer

Check out the 30 nominees for the 'France Football' Ballon d'Or for the best player in the world in the 2022/23 season. The presitigous gala will take place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on Monday 30th October.

The Ballon d'Or has been an annual award presented by 'France Football' magazine which is awarded to the best player in the world each season.

The editorial team at France Football decide on an initial 30-player shortlist for the prestigious award. Once that list has been decided upon, the French magazine then enlist a panel of journalists - usually one per nation - to make selections for a top five. Six points are given to their first place vote, four for second, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. These points are then tallied to determine the final rankings.

Last year's Ballon d'Or winner was former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who led 'Los Blancos' to La Liga and Champions League titles in a campaign that will go down in history. In the all-time ranking, Lionel Messi is the player who has been named the best player in the world the most times, a remarkable seven times, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, who came close to matching the Argentinian after winning the award five times.

Among the favourites is Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who led the Sky Blues to their first Champions League title by completing a historic treble including Premier League and FA Cup, thanks to his 52 goals in his debut season with the Mancunian side. Only one player is in contention to prevent the Norwegian from winning the award and that is Lionel Messi. The Barcelona legend helped Argentina win their first World Cup since they last did so in 1986, with Maradona as the team's star player.

The 30 nominees for the Ballon d'or 2022/2023:

Andre Onana (CAM/Inter - Man Utd)

Josko Gvardiol (CRO/Leipzig - Man City)

Karim Benzema (FRA/Madrid - Al Nassr)

Jamal Musiala (GER/Bayern Munich)

Mohamed Salah (EGY/Liverpool)

Jude Bellingham (ENG/Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid)

Bukayo Saka (ENG/Arsenal)

Randal Kolo Muani (FRA/Eintracht Frankfurt - PSG)

Kevin De Bruyne (BEL/Man City)

Bernardo Silva (POR/Man City)

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (GEO/Napoli)