The 2023 Ballon d’Or official ranking has been released with Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi being the number one player of the year.
The Ballon d’Or award is one that every professional footballer playing in Europe wants to win.
However, only two years (2018 and 2022) have seen different winners of the award – Real Madrid’s duo Karim Benzema and Luka Modric.
Futballnews understands that Lionel Messi has been confirmed as the winner of the 2023 Ballon d’Or award.
Messi finished first in the Ballon d’Or voting ahead of Erling Haaland of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.
Haaland and Mbappe were in second and third positions respectively in the Ballon d’Or men’s ranking.
The top five is made up of Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne, and Rodri (Manchester City).
Other notable players in the final 10 shortlist are Victor Osimhen (Napoli), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Vinicius (Real Madrid), Alvarez (Manchester City) and Modric (Real Madrid).
BALLON D’OR FINAL RANKINGS:
- Messi
- Haaland
- Mbappé
- De Bruyne
- Rodri
- Vinicius Jr
- Alvarez
- Victor Osimhen
- Bernardo Silva
- Modric
- Salah
- Lewandowski
- Yassine Bounou
- Ilkay Gündogan
- Emiliano Martinez
- Benzema
- Kvaratskhelia
- Bellingham
- Kane
- Lautaro Martinez
- Antoine Griezmann
- Kim Min-jae
- André Onana
- Bukayo Saka
- Josko Gvardiol
- Jamal Musiala
- Nicolo Barella
- Martin Odegaard
- Randal Kolo-Muani
- Ruben Dias
What Is The Ballon d’Or Award?
The Ballon d’Or is an annual football award awarded by the French weekly magazine France Football since 1956.
According to a deal with FIFA, the award was briefly combined with the FIFA World Player of the Year (established in 1991) between 2010 and 2015.
After that collaboration came to an end in 2016, FIFA reinstated The Best FIFA Men’s Player as its own yearly award, and the prize returned to the Ballon d’Or.
Both awarding organizations view the winners of the joint FIFA Ballon d’Or as winners.
Many people consider the coveted award to be one of the most valuable and prestigious individual awards in sports.
However, detractors have called the award a “popularity contest,” attacking both the voting procedure and the practice of consistently singling out one person in a team sport.
The award, which was created by sports writers Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, recognizes the male player who, according to football critics’ votes, did the finest job throughout the preceding year.
Originally called the European Footballer of the Year award, it was given out exclusively to players from Europe.
All players, regardless of nationality, who have played professionally for European clubs are now eligible for the award since 1995.
Coaches and captains of national teams were granted voting rights after 2007.
In 2007, the reward expanded to include professional football players worldwide, with eligibility open to all.
France Football amended the Ballon d’Or rules in 2022, changing the schedule so that awards were granted for football season accomplishments rather than calendar year accomplishments.
Additionally, it was agreed that voting would only be available to nations that rank among the top 100 in the FIFA World Ranking.
