No individual award in world football is more prestigious than the Ballon d’Or. With roughly two months left in the calendar year, the 2016 Ballon d’Or finalists have been named. Is a Lionel Messi repeat imminent? Or will Cristiano Ronaldo take back the prize after a summer of silverware?
If 30 Ballon d’Or finalists seem like a lot, it’s because it is. In previous years, the long list has contained just 23 names before being whittled down to a three-player shortlist a month before the announcement. And that’s not the only change for the award.
After a six-year run in which the award was named in conjunction with the FIFA World Player of the Year award, the Ballon d’Or is going back to its old format of being a standalone prize, which means the only voters will be journalists. Also, gone will be the three-player shortlist of previous years, and maybe that’s appropriate. Why have a list of three when all the talk for some time has only been about just two?
For the last eight years, the Ballon d’Or has gone to Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Conventional wisdom says one of the two will hoist the trophy for the ninth year running, but who will it be? Can Messi win the Ballon d’Or for a record sixth time? Or is Ronaldo poised to make it a quartet of Ballon d’Or wins?
Here’s how the nominees stack up. Starting with No. 30.