28 October 2024
Leaks have spread across social media revealing the final standings for the Ballon d'Or, which will be announced at the ceremony held at the "Le Chatelet" theater in Paris this evening.
A group of world stars are competing for the award, most notably the Real Madrid trio, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, and Kylian Mbappe, while the race also witnesses the presence of Manchester City duo, Erling Haaland and Rodri.
According to the leaks, Brazilian Vinicius Junior topped the award race with 630 points, while Manchester City player Rodri came in second place with 576 points.
Jude Bellingham came in third place with 422 points, while Kylian Mbappe came in fourth place with 317 points, a large difference from fifth place, which was occupied by Harry Kane, Bayern Munich striker with 201 points.
For the first time since 2003, Argentine Lionel Messi and his Portuguese rival Cristiano Ronaldo were both absent from the list of nominees, marking the beginning of a new era for the new generation of players.
Messi and Ronaldo monopolized the prestigious award from 2008 until last year, with the Argentine winning eight Golden Balls compared to five for the Portuguese.
Luka Modric and Karim Benzema are the only players to have won the Golden Ball during Messi and Ronaldo's monopoly, with the Croatian winning the award in 2018 and the Frenchman in 2022,
noting that the award was canceled in 2020 due to the Corona virus pandemic.
The list of candidates for this year's Ballon d'Or included 30 players:
1- Jude Bellingham - Real Madrid
2- Erling Haaland - Manchester City
3- Neco Williams - Athletic Bilbao
4- Granit Xhaka - Bayer Leverkusen
5- Artem Dovbyk - Roma (Girona)
6- Toni Kroos - retired (Real Madrid)
7- Ruben Dias - Manchester City
8- Phil Foden - Manchester City
9- Emiliano Martinez - Aston Villa
10- Federico Valverde - Real Madrid
11- Dani Carvajal - Real Madrid
12- Kylian Mbappé - Paris Saint-Germain/Real Madrid
13- Alejandro Grimaldo - Bayer Leverkusen
14- Lautaro Martinez - Inter Milan
15- Ademola Lookman - Atalanta
16- Anthony Rudiger - Real Madrid
17- Lamine Jamal - Barcelona
18- Bukayo Saka - Arsenal
19- Hakan Calhanoglu - Inter Milan
20- William Saliba - Arsenal
21- Mats Hummels - Borussia Dortmund/Roma
22- Florian Wirtz - Bayer Leverkusen
23- Dani Olmo - RB Leipzig/Barcelona
24- Rodri - Manchester City
25- Declan Rice - Arsenal
26- Harry Kane - Bayern Munich
27- Vinicius Junior - Real Madrid
28- Cole Palmer - Chelsea
29- Vitinha - Paris Saint-Germain
30- Martin Odegaard - Arsenal
