Ballon d'Or 2023 Power Rankings: Lionel Messi set to pip Erling Haaland to eighth Golden Ball as France Football reveals full list of nominees

 

l. mess

e. haalan

k. mbapp

k. benzem

neyma

vinícius júnio

r. lewandowsk

m. rashfor

h. kan

mohamed sala

k. de bruyn

k. kvaratskheli

j. musial

j. bellingha

b. sak

v. osimhe

uefa champions leagu

e. fernánde

casemir

m. ødegaar

j. álvare

a. hakim

premier leagu

primera divisió

serie 

bundeslig

ligue 

world cu

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the shortlist for the 2023 prize has been announced - so who is in the running to win the famous trophy

the 2023 ballon d'or awards ceremony is almost upon us, with some of the world's best footballers among the nominees to succeed 2022 winner karim benzema in lifting the golden ball in paris on october 

it promised to be a unique ballon d'or battle, with the world cup taking place in the middle of the 2022-23 campaign, meaning it could be a distant memory by the time the votes were cast in august. there is no doubt, however, that playing a starring role in qatar boosted some players' chances of competing for the golden ball, even with the winners of domestic and european titles grabbing the late-season attenti

he fully deserved the world cup golden glove and ended the club season strongly too, helping villa book their place in europ

martin odegaard arsenal newcastle 2022-23get

17martin odegaard (arsenal

in 2022-23: seven assists, 15 goals, pfa team of the year inducte

captain fantastic martin odegaard enjoyed his best ever season last time out, finally proving that the hype when he broke through as a teenager had been well deserve

no player typified mikel arteta's arsenal more than the norwegian and he consistently popped up with vital goals and assists as the gunners mounted an unlikely premier league title charg

norway's absence from the world cup will hurt his chances of finishing higher on the rankings, thoug

bukayo saka 2022-23get

16bukayo saka (arsenal

in 2022-23: 22 goals, 14 assists

much like arsenal as a collective, bukayo saka's form dropped off at the exact wrong time for the gunners as their title challenge evaporated in a matter of week

despite that, the england winger deserves to be among those on the 30-man shortlist, and expect this to be the first of many ballon d'or nomination

lautaro martinez esultanza fiorentina intergetty imag

15lautaro martinez (inter

in 2022-23: 29 goals, 12 assists. won world cup, coppa italia & supercoppa Italian 

it remains to be seen whether this proves to be his final ballon d'or nomination or not, with players in the saudi pro league in danger of being forgotten about by the euro-centric judging pane

bernardo silva manchester city 2022-23 get

11bernardo silva (manchester city

in 2022-23: 10 goals, eight assists. won champions league, premier league & fa cup

bernardo silva is not a regular goalscorer, but he does score his fair share of big goals, and few were bigger than the pair he scored to set city on their way to beating real madrid and securing their spot in the champions league final

city keeping hold of the portugal international this summer was arguably their best bit of business of the whole transfer window, such is his importance to pep guardiola's side 

robert lewandowski barcelona 2022-23getty imag

10robert lewandowski (barcelona

in 2022-23: 36 goals, 11 assists. won la liga & supercopa de espana

robert lewandowski's chances of ever getting his hands on the ballon d'or might now have gone, but he did at least keep up his superb record of winning league titles by firing barca back to the top of spanish footbal

that he managed it despite the odd lull in form is testament to his ability and longevity having just turned 3

julian alvarez fa cup 2023photo by glyn kirk/afp via getty imag

9julian alvarez (manchester city

in 2022-23: 23 goals, six assists. won world cup, champions league, premier league & fa cup

only six premier league players scored more goals in all competitions than julian alvarez in 2022-23 as he proved that he needs to be more than just a back-up for man city going forward 

for now, he can be content with finishing as the most-decorated footballer on the planet for the 2022-23 campaign, and though performances are meant to trump trophies when it comes to ballon d'or voting, the argentina forward can claim to have provided both over the course of the seaso

victor osimhen napoli 2022-23get

8victor osimhen (napoli

in 2022-23: 33 goals, five assists. won serie a

victor osimhen will forever be immortalised in naples after his goal sealed the partenopei's first serie a title for 33 years, and it was only right after the season he had that the nigerian striker was the man to finish the. 

somewhat surprisingly, osimhen was kept from the clutches of europe's elite during the transfer window, and has already made a fast start to the new campaig

however, a run of just one goal in his final eight games of the campaign for man city means he will likely come up short in 2023, even though it was his efforts that played a massive role in pep guardiola's side winning... Read more