The Ballon d`Or ceremony will be held on 30 October 2023 and the nominees are published.
Some of the nominees were expected but a lot of football fans and experts were surprised with the list.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Tony Kross, Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, Carlos Henrique Casimiro, Raphael Leao, and John Stones are the missing stars of the 2023 nominees.
Ronaldo has won 6 Ballon d’Or and he is still in good shape. He`s still scoring goals and making good appearances for the Al Nassr team in the Saudi Pro League. Karim Benzema plays in the same league as Cristiano and he`s included on the Ballon d`Or list.
MEN’S BALLON D’OR 2023 NOMINEES
- Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City)
- Andre Onana (Manchester United)
- Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad)
- Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
- Randal Kolo Muani (Paris Saint Germain)
- Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
- Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli)
- Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
- Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
- Nicola Barella (Inter Milan)
- Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal)
- Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
- Julian Alvarez (Manchester City)
- Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona)
- Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)
- Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
- Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)
- Lautaro Martinez (Inter MIlan)
- Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
- Rodri (Manchester City)
- Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint German)
- Kim Min-Jae (Bayern Munich)
- Victor Osimhen (Napoli)
- Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
- Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
The other surprises that can be found on the list are that Antoine Griezmann and Randal Kolo Muani have not achieved any big trophies in the 2022-2023 season. Among them, Mohamed Salah made a lot of good appearances but Liverpool finished the English Premier League in the 5th place.
In the list, we can notice too many Man City players but is understandable because the Citizens won the Champions League trophy and the treble in the season we left behind.