The 2023 Ballon d’Or winners will be crowned tonight on Monday, October 30, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
The Ballon d’Or is an annual award presented by French news magazine France Football and has been running since 1956.
Read also: Charlton, Man Utd’s greatest football icon goes home at 86
Former Real Madrid captain Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d’Or while Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas took home the Ballon d’Or Féminin award for a second consecutive year.
Argentina star Lionel Messi who currently plays in the MLS with Inter Miami is the favourite to claim the men’s record eighth Ballon d’Or award.
The 36-year-old Argentine forward guided Argentina to win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Spain’s World Cup winner Aitana Bonmati is the top favourite to succeed her international team-mate, Alexia Putellas, having won the Golden Ball for her exploits in Australia and New Zealand.
Putellas, the 29-year-old, spent most of last season injured, so there will be a new winner for the women’s prize with Barcelona teammate Aitana Bonmati the favourite.
The Ballon d’Or award has been dominated by Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the past 15 years, but with both of the megastars playing outside of Europe currently, this year could be the end of their dominance.
Arsenal stars Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, former Tottenham striker Harry Kane, and Real Madrid sensational midfielder Jude Bellingham join Haaland and Messi on the 30-man Ballon d’Or nominees list.
