The honour of football’s most prestigious individual award will be bestowed upon two superstars from both the men’s and women’s games in a glitzy ceremony in Paris tonight. Karim Benzema is an overwhelming favourite to claim the male version after a stunning last season for Real Madrid in which he fired Carlo Ancelotti’s side to a memorable LaLiga and Champions League double, scoring a whopping 44 goals across all competitions.
He is expected to land his first Ballon d’Or ahead of the likes of Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah this evening, with somebody not named Lionel Messi - who did not make the final shortlist this year - or Cristiano Ronaldo set to scoop the prize for only the second time since 2007. The first rankings have been revealed, with Darwin Nunez and Joshua Kimmich among those in a tie for 25th.
Barcelona superstar Alexia Putellas is the favourite to clinch her second successive Ballon d'Or Féminin, while there are a range of other awards up for grabs including the Kopa Trophy for the best performing men’s under-21 player and Yashin Trophy to the top goalkeeper. Follow LIVE coverage of the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony with Standard Sport’s blog below!
Nunez rewarded for Benfica form
So it was Nunez’s form for Benfica that got him both a move to Liverpool and a place on the Ballon d’Or shortlist, with 34 goals last season, but he has to settle for a tie of 25th.
Nkunku looks destined to finish higher than that in the years to come, while Cancelo will be right up there next year if he can continue his form and help City to win the Champions League.
Rudiger the first Real player to have his ranking confirmed, even though he was shortlisted for his Chelsea displays.
AC Milan goalkeeper Maignan helped his side to the Serie A title, while Joshua Kimmich is probably the type of player who will never truly get the recognition he deserves when it comes to individual awards.
Here we go, we have our first results. Six players are in a share of 25th, with one nomination each.
They are Darwin Nunez, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Cancelo, Antonio Rudiger, Joshua Kimmich and Mike Maignan.
Reminder that the voting for the Ballon d’Or is based on performances over last season, rather than over a calendar year as it has been in the past.
That means Erling Haaland’s incredible start to this season for Manchester City will not help him tonight, though it sets him up to be a serious contender next year.
With Real Madrid dominating in Spain and Europe last season, they are likely to have a strong night when the full results are announced during the ceremony.
Thomas Muller is staying loyal to Robert Lewandowski when it comes to who he wants to win tonight, despite the Polish striker leaving Bayern Munich for Barcelona in the summer.
“I have to go for Lewandowski,” Muller said in support of his former team-mate.
When asked if Benzema deserved to win the award this year, Muller responded: “I know what you mean. Benzema had a very good season and is a very good player.”
First rankings have not yet been announced, but they should be revealed at any moment.
Players will be very keen to not see their name being anounced!
Real Madrid are better than any other club at helping their players win the Ballon d’Or, according to director of France Football Pascal Ferre.
Karim Benzema is widely expected to pick up the award tonight, which would see him follow the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric in securing the individual prize while at the La Liga club.
While Lionel Messi is a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, and has almost exclusively shared the award with Ronaldo over the past 15 years, no club has had more different players voted as the best in the men’s game than Real.
France Football are responsible for the 30-man shortlist and while five Real players are nominated this year, Ferre believes that president Florentino Perez is careful to ensure his club have one clear star in the team.
“Florentino Perez orchestrates the campaigns well,” Ferre told the EFE Agency.
“There are machines like Real Madrid that are very strong. Their intelligence is that they support a single player. For years it was Cristiano Ronaldo and now it’s Karim Benzema. That prevents the votes from being dispersed.”
The first rankings will start to be released at 3:30pm BST - just under 20 minutes until we get those.
Safe to say we’re not expecting Karim Benzema’s name to feature at any point soon, with the Frenchman the heavy favourite to win the Ballon d’Or tonight.
Those in these initial rankings are players who have finished towards the bottom of the 30-man list.
Lionel Messi picked up his seventh Ballon d’Or a year ago, pipping Robert Lewandowski who had been fancied to win it.
Jorginho was in third, ahead of Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante to complete the top five.
Chelsea players got plenty of credit after their Champions League win - they have no current players on the shortlist this time. Antonio Rudiger is their ‘representation’, after impressing for the Blues last season.
This article originally appeared on Evening Standard and Fetch With Intels News Feed Content Fetcher