Men’s Ballon d’Or 2022 nominees: Benzema leads the way as Messi miss out

The final contenders for the most prestigious individual accolade in the game have been revealed

Newsonline France Football have announced the nominees for the 2022 men’s Ballon d’Or, with Europe’s best player set to be crowned at an official presentation ceremony in October.

Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema is the hot favourite for the prize after firing the Blancos to a La Liga and Champions League double last season, but there are plenty of other familiar names also in the running.

The nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or are listed below:

Thibaut Courtois (BEL, Real Madrid)

Rafael Leao (POR, AC Milan)

Mohamed Salah (EGY, Liverpool) Joshua Kimmich (GER, Bayern Munich)

Christopher Nkunku (FRA, RB Leipzig)

Trent Alexander-Arnold (ANG, Liverpool)

Robert Lewandowski (POL, Bayern Munich then FC Barcelona)

Bernardo Silva (POR, Manchester City)

Vinicius Junior (BRE, Real Madrid)

Luis Diaz (COL, FC Porto then Liverpool)

Karim Benzema (FRA, Real Madrid)

Fabinho (BRE, Liverpool)

Riyad Mahrez (ALG, Manchester City) Heung-min Son (CDS, Tottenham)

Casemiro (BRE, Real Madrid)

Phil Foden (ENG, Manchester City)

Harry Kane (ENG, Tottenham) Sadio Mané (SEN, Liverpool then Bayern Munich),

Darwin Nunez (URU, Benfica then Liverpool)

Mike Maignan (FRA, AC Milan)

Kevin De Bruyne (BEL, Manchester City)

Sébastien Haller (CIV, Ajax then Borussia Dortmund)

Luka Modric (CRO, Real Madrid)

Cristiano Ronaldo (POR, Manchester United) Antonio Rüdiger (GER, Chelsea then Real Madrid)

Joao Cancelo (POR, Manchester City)

Erling Haaland (NOR, Borussia Dortmund then Manchester City)

Kylian Mbappé (FRA, PSG)

Virgil Van Dijk (HOL, Liverpool)

Dusan Vlahovic (SER, Fiorentina then Juventus).

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Lionel Messi landed a record-extending seventh Golden Ball in 2021. However, the Argentine endured a difficult debut season at Paris Saint-Germain and he looks set to pass the gong on to a new name in two months’ time.