On Monday, France Football (over the course of five ridiculous hours) released its 30-man shortlist for the 2019 Ballon d’Or prize, as well as a 20-player shortlist for the Ballon d'Or Féminin. Last year, Luka Modrić broke Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s combined 10-year stranglehold on the game’s most prestigious individual award, but Messi is again the favorite this year after leading Barcelona to the Spanish league title while capturing his sixth European Golden Shoe.
A victory for Messi would see him break a current deadlock with Ronaldo with regards to the most wins by a single player — the Argentine and Portuguese legends have both won it five times.
Among the nominees for the 2019 #ballondor
Lionel Messi@FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/iZJoC033On— #BallondOr (@francefootball) October 21, 2019
Messi’s closest competitor will likely be Liverpool and Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk.
On the women’s side, Lyon’s Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural Ballon d'Or Féminin last year, and she’d again be a potential winner if not for her decision to sit out the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup due to an ongoing dispute with the Norwegian Football Federation over a lack of commitment to the women’s game.
The award will likely go to either Megan Rapinoe or Alex Morgan for the roles they played in the USWNT’s fourth World Cup title. Other U.S. stars on the shortlist include Rose Lavelle and Tobin Heath.
Men’s Ballon d’Or Shortlist 2019
- Sadio Mané | Liverpool and Senegal
- Hugo Lloris | Tottenham and France
- Dušan Tadić | Ajax and Serbia
- Frenkie de Jong | Ajax/Barcelona and Netherlands
- Sergio Agüero | Manchester City and Argentina
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Arsenal and Gabon
- Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool and England
- Marc-Andre ter Stegen | Barcelona and Germany
- Kylian Mbappé | PSG and France
- Donny van de Beek | Ajax and Netherlands
- Karim Benzema | Real Madrid and France
- Georginio Wijnaldum | Liverpool and Netherlands
- Cristiano Ronaldo | Juventus and Portugal
- Alisson | Liverpool and Brazil
- Matthijs de Ligt | Ajax/Juventus and Netherlands
- Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool and Netherlands
- Bernardo Silva | Manchester City and Portugal
- Son Heung-min | Tottenham and South Korea
- Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich and Poland
- Roberto Firmino | Liverpool and Brazil
- Lionel Messi | Barcelona and Argentina
- Riyad Mahrez | Manchester City and Algeria
- Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City and Belgium
- Kalidou Koulibaly | Napoli and Senegal
- Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid/Barcelona and France
- Mohamed Salah | Liverpool and Egypt
- Eden Hazard | Chelsea/Real Madrid and Belgium
- Marquinhos | PSG and Brazil
- Raheem Sterling | Manchester City and England
- João Félix | Benfica/Atletico Madrid and Portugal
With regards to who's not among the finalists, Modrić has gone from winning it to missing out completely, and Neymar — after finishing third in both 2015 and 2017 — has also dropped off.
Women's Ballon d’Or Shortlist 2019
- Sam Kerr | Chicago Red Stars and Australia
- Ellen White | Manchester City and England
- Nilla Fischer | Linköpings FC and Sweden
- Amandine Henry | Lyon and France
- Lucy Bronze | Lyon and England
- Alex Morgan | Orlando Pride and USWNT
- Vivianne Miedema | Arsenal and Netherlands
- Dzenifer Marozsan | Lyon and Germany
- Pernille Harder | Wolfsburg and Denmark
- Sarah Bouhaddi | Lyon and France
- Kosovare Asllani | CD Tacón and Sweden
- Ada Hegerberg | Lyon and Norway
- Tobin Heath | Portland Thorns and USWNT
- Sofia Jakobsson | CD Tacón and Sweden
- Rose Lavelle | Washington Spirit and USWNT
- Marta | Orlando Pride and Brazil
- Lieke Martens | Barcelona and Netherlands
- Megan Rapinoe | Reign FC and USWNT
- Wendie Renard | Lyon and France
- Sari van Veenendal | Atlético Madrid and Netherlands
And here are the finalists for the Kopa Trophy, France Football’s (not really necessary) answer to the Golden Boy award. The clear favorite is Matthijs de Ligt.
OFFICIAL: The 2019 Trophée Kopa nominees.
Who will take Kylian Mbappé's crown? pic.twitter.com/XnUaKgNU6i— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) October 21, 2019
France Football is now also giving away a goalkeeper award — the Yacine Trophy — because why not. Alisson is the favorite after winning both the Champions League and Copa America.
The best goalkeepers in the world, nominated for the #yachinetrophy pic.twitter.com/QCTDzzGAw2
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 21, 2019
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