EVERY professional footballer dreams of adding a Ballon d’Or to their trophy cabinet – and the 2022 winner will be announced in less than a months time.
Argentinian legend Lionel Messi edged Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski to secure the prestigious award last year.
But the Paris Saint-Germain magician failed to make the shortlist this time round courtesy of an underwhelming debut season in France.
And so did Brazilian superstar Neymar who wasn’t afraid to hit out at his critics.
However, there are still a whole host of names in the 30-man list worthy of being crowned with such an honourable prize.
SunSport has everything you need to know about the Ballon d’Or 2022.
When is the Ballon d’Or award ceremony?
The 66th edition of the Ballon d’Or is set to take place on Monday, October 17.
And an official start time will be confirmed nearer the date.
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Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France is the allocated arena for this intriguing event and it can host 2,010 spectators.
There will be a slight twist as the winner will be chosen based on performances over a season as opposed to a calendar year.
How can I watch the Ballon d’Or award ceremony?
Viewers in the UK can stream the entire action live via the Eurosport website or the Eurosport app.
However, fans can globally watch the award ceremony on French outlet L’Equipe’s YouTube channel or L’Equipe’s website.
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Who are the Ballon d’Or nominees?
The nominees were revealed by France Football on Friday, August 12 2022.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema have all been shortlisted.
But Lionel Messi failed to make the 30-man cut for the first time in over a decade.
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – Liverpool
- Karim Benzema – Real Madrid
- Joao Cancelo – Manchester City
- Casemiro – Manchester United (formerly Real Madrid)
- Thibaut Courtois – Real Madrid
- Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United
- Kevin de Bruyne – Manchester City
- Luis Diaz – Liverpool (formerly Porto)
- Fabinho – Liverpool
- Phil Foden – Manchester City
- Erling Haaland – Manchester City (formerly Borussia Dortmund)
- Sebastien Haller – Borussia Dortmund (formerly Ajax)
- Harry Kane – Tottenham Hotspur
- Joshua Kimmich – Bayern Munich
- Rafael Leao – AC Milan
- Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona (formerly Bayern Munich)
- Riyad Mahrez – Manchester City
- Mike Maignan – AC Milan
- Sadio Mane – Bayern Munich (formerly Liverpool)
- Kylian Mbappe – Paris Saint-Germain
- Luka Modric – Real Madrid
- Christopher Nkunku – RB Leipzig
- Darwin Nunez – Liverpool (formerly Benfica)
- Antonio Rudiger – Real Madrid (formerly Chelsea)
- Mohamed Salah – Liverpool
- Bernardo Silva – Manchester City
- Son Heung-min – Tottenham Hotspur
- Virgil van Dijk – Liverpool
- Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid
- Dusan Vlahovic – Juventus (formerly Fiorentina)
Who has won the most Ballon d’0r awards?
Lionel Messi has been crowned with the prestigious award on SEVEN occasions which makes him the current record holder.
The Argentinian icon is two ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo who has been stuck on five since 2017.
Luka Modric is the only other player currently still playing to have secured the Ballon d’Or.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
