On 29 November the winner of the Ballon d’Or 2021 will be chosen. Who is nominated? What other titles will be awarded? And what is the Ballon d’Or anyway? An overview.
2020 the ceremony had fallen victim to the Corona pandemic, 2021 there will again be a winner and a winner of the Ballon d’Or: On Monday, 29 November, the prestigious awards will be presented at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. The most important questions and answers in advance.
What is the Ballon d’Or anyway?
The French trade magazine “France Football” has been awarding the prestigious award, which until 2006 was to be understood as “Europe’s Footballer of the Year”, since 1956. Initially reserved for European players only, the Ballon d’Or opened up to all players playing in Europe in 1995, to all players worldwide in 2007 – and to women in 2018. The most important criterion is the player’s sporting performance in the calendar year (individually and in the club and national team), the second most important is the quality of the player, also in terms of fair play. The third most important factor is the overall career.
Between 2010 and 2015, France Football cooperated with FIFA, which meant that the FIFA World Player and the Ballon d’Or were temporarily one and the same prize. Since 2016, however, the world governing body has once again awarded its own trophy, the FIFA World Player, which will be awarded for 2021 on 17 January 2022.
How is the election held? And who can vote?
The editorial team of “France Football” selects 30 men’s players who are then presented to an international jury of journalists for voting, with only one representative per country taking part; in Germany this is kicker chief reporter Karlheinz Wild. Each jury member awards points to five players in descending order – 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The player with the most points wins the Ballon d’Or. In the event of a tie, the winner will be decided by who has been placed first more times. The results will be published by “France Football” in the early evening one by one.
Which 30 players are nominated this year?
Riyad Mahrez: (Manchester City)
N’golo Kanté: (Chelsea)
Erling Haaland: (Borussia Dortmund)
Leonardo Bonucci: (Juventus Turin)
Mason Mount: (Chelsea)
Harry Kane: (Tottenham Hotspur)
Gianluigi Donnarumma: (PSG)
Karim Benzema: (Real Madrid)
Raheem Sterling: (Manchester City)
Nicolo Barella: (Inter Milan)
Lionel Messi: (PSG)
Bruno Fernandes: (Manchester United)
Pedri: (FC Barcelona)
Luka Modric: (Real Madrid)
Giorgio Chiellini: (Juventus Turin)
Kevin De Bruyne: (Manchester City)
Neymar: (PSG)
Lautaro Martinez: (Inter Milan)
Ruben Dias: (Manchester City)
Simon Kjaer: (AC Milan)
Robert Lewandowski:(FC Bayern)
Jorginho: (Chelsea)
Mohamed Salah: (Liverpool FC)
Cesar Azpilicueta: (Chelsea)
Romelu Lukaku: (Chelsea)
Cristiano Ronaldo: (Manchester United)
Gerard Moreno: (Villarreal)
Phil Foden: (Manchester City)
Kylian Mbappé: (PSG)
Luis Suarez: (Atletico Madrid)
So from the Bundesliga, Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski are in the running, a German player is not among the 30 nominees Champions League finalists Chelsea and Manchester City each have five nominees, making them the most.
Who is favourite to win the Ballon d’Or 2021?
Bookmakers have record winner Lionel Messi narrowly ahead, having won the trophy for the sixth time in the recent 2019 poll. However, Robert Lewandowski, crowned FIFA World Player in 2020, is close on his heels in the odds. Trailing far behind are Europe’s Footballer of the Year Jorginho, the 2021 Champions League winner and European champion, Liverpool goalscorer Mohamed Salah and Real Madrid attacker Karim Benzema. European Championship top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo is given little chance.
What other trophies will be awarded on 29 November?
In the women’s category, the 20 nominees for the “Ballon d’Or Féminin” include neither German players nor Bundesliga professionals. Alexia Putellas of Champions League winners FC Barcelona, who has already been voted Europe’s female footballer of the year, is considered the favourite.
In addition, on 29 November “France Football” will again award the “Kopa Trophy”, named after the former Ballon d’Or winner Raymond Kopa, for the best player under 21 (deadline: 31 December). Among the ten nominees are Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Giovanni Reyna as well as the German internationals Jamal Musiala (FC Bayern) and Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen). Only former Ballon d’Or winners are eligible to vote. The only winners of this trophy so far were Kylian Mbappé (2018) and Matthijs de Ligt (2019).
The “Yashin Trophy”, named after the former world-class goalkeeper Lev Yashin, will be awarded for the second time. A jury of journalists chooses the best keeper of the calendar year. The ten nominees: Ederson (Manchester City), Edouard Mendy (Chelsea), Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG), Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Jan Oblak (Atletico), Keylor Navas (PSG), Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern) and Samir Handanovic (Inter).
