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Ranking the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees

By Carter Mulvihill

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 11: FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 nominees Lionel Messi of Argentina and FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Real Madrid answer media questions during the FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 press conference prior to the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2015 at the Kongresshaus on January 11, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 11: FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 nominees Lionel Messi of Argentina and FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Real Madrid answer media questions during the FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 press conference prior to the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2015 at the Kongresshaus on January 11, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) /
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ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 11: FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 nominees Lionel Messi of Argentina and FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Real Madrid answer media questions during the FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 press conference prior to the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala 2015 at the Kongresshaus on January 11, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 11: FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 nominees Lionel Messi of Argentina and FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Real Madrid answer media questions during the FIFA Ballon dOr 2015 press conference prior to the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala 2015 at the Kongresshaus on January 11, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) /

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.

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