The 67th award ceremony took place at the Chatelet Theater in Paris The Golden Ball, which was expectedly won by the captain of the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi. Sports tells the story of a football evening in the capital of France and the new peak conquered by the legendary striker.
Why is the Ballon d'Or so important? This is the main individual award in world football, a kind of Oscar. Since 1956, it has been awarded annually to the best player according to the prestigious French publication France Football. In 2010-15, journalists, coaches and captains of national teams voted; since 2016, only media representatives again take part in choosing the best. In the Men's Ballon d'Or category, a jury of journalists from the top 100 countries according to the International Football Federation (FIFA) rankings was used.
Let us remind you who took the Golden Ball after the partnership between the magazine and FIFA was terminated in 2016 and the federation began presenting its own award, The Best FIFA Men's Player:
- 2016 — Cristiano RONALDO;
- 2017 — Cristiano RONALDO;
- 2019 — Lionel MESSI;
- 2021 — Lionel MESSI;
- 2022 — Karim BENZEMA.
< li class="article__list-item">2018 — Luka MODRIC;
Note that since 2008, the hegemony of Messi and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo has been violated only twice. As for the pandemic year 2020, the ceremony was not held due to COVID-19.
Who competed for the 2023 World Cup? The list included 30 football players, but there were three main favorites:
- Lionel MESSI (PSG, Inter Miami/Argentina national team). “The Greatest” won the 2022 World Cup, where he was also recognized as the best player of the World Cup. Already playing in the USA, the 36-year-old captain became the most titled football player in history;
- Erling HÅLAND (Manchester City/Norwegian national team). He made a phenomenal debut in the “citizens” camp, winning both the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League in the 2022/23 season (in both cases, the 23-year-old goalscorer is the top scorer of the competitions);
- Kylian MBAPPE (PSG/France national team). Let's leave his successes in League 1 behind the scenes — the 24-year-old forward became the silver medalist of the 2022 World Cup and the top scorer of the spectacular tournament in Qatar.
The post below lists all the contenders. Please note: Cristiano Ronaldo was not nominated for the Ballon d'Or for the first time since 2003.
There was no intrigue at all A number of insiders, including Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, reported in advance that Lionel Messi's name would be in the coveted envelope. The Ballon d'Or winner, who arrived at the event with his wife and sons Thiago, Mateo and Ciro, was notified of this in advance.
Despite the fact that some of Leo’s victories are considered controversial (big questions are raised by at least three votes when primes Wesley Sneijder, Xavi, Andreas Iniesta and Robert Lewandowski), this time Messi simply cleared the clearing. With his gold medal for Qatar and the way the captain dragged Argentina to the first championship since 1986, no merits of the other contenders can be compared.
The triumph at the World Cup after silver at the 2014 Brazilian World Cup remained Lionel’s only unfinished gestalt, and the trophy that was so lacking was finally replenished on the overflowing shelf. After four (!) lost finals with the national team, the Argentine broke a long-term curse, taking both the America's Cup in 2021 and the World Cup. This is what greatness looks like!
GOAT «Plum» was eventually confirmed. The Argentine was declared the winner, and he took the stage for the eighth time to receive the Ballon d'Or from the hands of David Beckham. And all this on Diego Maradona’s birthday… Symbolic!
This is an absolute record: the footballer previously became the best in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021. Arch-rival Ronaldo was left far behind with five wins. Perhaps, with a score of 8-5, their race will end: it’s hard to imagine that the stars who flew away from Europe will be able to compete for 3M in the future.
Fans, meanwhile, are filling social networks with comments with the abbreviation GOAT (which means not “goat” at all) , and “the greatest of all time” — Greatest Of All Time). Will anyone say that they are wrong?
Messi's words after the triumph“
"Great gift for Argentina. But I don’t want to forget about Holland or Mbappe, because they had a great, impressive season. And in the coming years they will receive this award. It will be a good fight between them, they both deserve the prize this year. <…> I never thought I would have such a career. I was very lucky: I was in the best team in the world, the best in history, thanks to which I was able to win so many individual awards. I had very bad times in the Argentina national team, but I never gave up. We won the America's Cup and the World Cup, that's why I'm proud that I didn't give up.»
The triumphant also added that he would not have received this award without the help of the Argentine team.
Results of the ceremony:
- LIONEL MESSI—winner of the Ballon d'Or. He became the first non-European player in history to receive this award;
- Aitana BONMATI—winner of the women's Ballon d'Or;
- «MANCHESTER CITY»is the best club of the year;
- «BARCELONA» — best women's club of the year;
- Erling HOLAND-winner of the Gerd Müller Prize as the best scorer;
- Emiliano MARTINEZ — winner of the Lev Yashin prize as the best goalkeeper;
- Jude BELLINGHAM — best young football player;
- Vinicius JUNIOR — winner of the Socrates Award for charity.