Who will win the 2017 Ballon d’Or?
13:00 IST: On Monday, 9th October, the 30-man list of nominees to win the 2017 Ballon d’Or will be revealed, at different times during the day. 5 names will be revealed at once, over 6 sets throughout the day, and the first set was just revealed a few minutes back. Keep watching this space for regular updates.
What is the Ballon d’Or? It’s an annual football award presented by France Football, to the best worldwide footballer of the year. Lionel Messi has won this award 5 times in the past, while Cristiano Ronaldo is second on that list, having won the award 4 times!
2016 Ballon d’Or winner: Cristiano Ronaldo. He will be looking to defend his crown, while Neymar and Messi will give him tough competition.
First set of 5 nominees:
1. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain/Barcelona, Brazil). The youngster left the star club FC Barcelona to be able to play out of the shadow of Leo Messi and actually give himself a chance to win the Ballon d’Or? Will this be his year? Or will the wait continue?
2. Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia). Him and Kroos were a vital part of Real Madrid’s good last season, and he has been a great player, but with little chance of winning, really. Javier Hernandez believes Modric should win the 2017 Ballon d’Or.
3. Paulo Dybala (Juventus, Argentina). Former Juventus star David Trezeguet has tipped the current Juventus player Dybala to win the Ballon d’Or. However, with a few really big names in the nominees list, what are his chances?
4. Marcelo (Real Madrid, Brazil). This man has shown some sparkling form for his club of late, but history shows that defenders tend to get left behind while choosing a Ballon d’Or winner. What do you think?
5. N’Golo Kante (Chelsea, France). Not surprising to see him in this list. He has won two consecutive Premier League titles with two different clubs, and also narrowly missed out on winning Chelsea player of the year, to Eden Hazard (who should also feature on this list).
Keep watching this space for further updates and the rest of the 30-man list!
16:00 IST: Set 2 of the 30-man nominees have been released and the big name from this set would be Luis Suarez.
Second set of 5 nominees:
6. Luis Suarez (Barcelona, Uruguay). The Barcelona striker may be known for notorious reasons like biting his opponents, but he has been a very valuable part of the squad over the years. However, he himself doesn’t believe that he has the right marketing to win the Ballon d’Or.
7. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain). They say you must call Sergio Ramos when you need a late goal to save your team – mostly a header past the goalkeeper. Call him crazy if you like, but the Madrid captain believes he has a strong chance of winning the 2017 Ballon d’Or.
8. Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid, Slovenia). First goalkeeper on the 30-man list. I wouldn’t really consider him for the award but he has done really well to get himself on the list of the nominees this year.
9. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool, Brazil). The 25-year old attacking midfielder had many teams eyeing him at the last transfer window, but Liverpool turned down offers even from giant footballing clubs like Barcelona.
10. Dries Mertens (Napoli, Belgium). The striker has been good for his club and Manchester United may even be interested in snapping him up. However, if I have to be realistic, getting onto the 30-man nominees is the best he can do.
Stay tuned to know the full list of 30 nominees.
Third set of 5 nominees:
11. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium). The second Belgian player on the nominees list is de Bruyne, and he clearly deserves to be here. The Premier League star is on the list but not many would fancy his chances to win the award.
12. Harry Kane (Tottenham, England). Kane’s career has taken off in the last couple of years and he is also the future captain of the English football team. He has 6 goals in 7 PL appearances this year.
13. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, Poland). This intimidating striker has over 60 Bundesliga goals in the last couple of seasons and some may call him the best forward in the world at the moment. Last year, he wasn’t happy when he finished on 16th in the Ballon d’Or rankings.
14. David de Gea (Manchester United, Spain). While Neuer has always been regarded as the best keeper in the world, I strongly believe that de Gea gives him tough competition. He’s the reason Manchester United have saved and earned many points in the Premier League over the last couple of seasons.
15. Edin Dzeko (Roma, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The oldest nominee so far – Dzeko is 31-years old and is one of the many strikers to make the 30-man nominees list for the 2017 Ballon d’Or.
Fourth set of 5 nominees:
16. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid, Germany). As mentioned above, the German midfielder has been a vital part of Real’s success of late. He finished 17 on the 2016 Ballon d’Or rankings last year and will be aiming for a higher finish this time around.
17. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid, France). The French striker rose to fame after a great season last year, and also ending as the highest scorer at the 2016 Euro Cup. He finished 3rd in the Ballon d’Or race last year, but I sense a slip in rankings for him this year.
18. Sadio Mane (Liverpool, Senegal). Liverpool fans would be the happiest with the signing of Mane, as he has been valuable to them so far. Hailing from Senegal, he is the only African name in the nominees list of the 2017 Ballon d’Or.
19. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy). Another goalkeeper in the list, and some would undoubtedly call him th best in the world. Mind you, Buffon will be turning 40 in January 2018. Former striker Fabrizio Ravanelli believes that Buffon is much more deserving of this award than Cristiano. Quite a statement to make, don’t you think?
20. Radamel Falcao (Monaco, Colombia). This striker’s career was at a high a couple of years back, but FIFA has still considered him worthy of finding a spot in the 30-man nominees list. 2012 was probably his best chance. 2017, I don’t think so.
Fifth set of 5 nominees:
21. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France). Real Madrid are the champions of Spain, and that’s why they have so many of they players in this Ballon d’Or list. In the past, Karim has claimed he can win the award like his teammate CR7, but I think he should be happy with a top ten finish here.
22. Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich, Germany). The Bayern defender wasn’t too happy with his FIFA 17 rankings, but he’s still a highly valuable player in my book. Recently, he joined Juan Mata in pledging 1% of his salary to charity.
23. Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain, Uruguay). Although I am a big fan of Cavani’s game, he is one of the hundreds who can make the nominees list but never make it to the top, as not many can be as good as the Ronaldo’s and the Messi’s.
24. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund, Gabon). Aubameyang made the list in 2016 as well, and has certainly been a huge asset to his club team. 11 is the rank he finished at last year, when Ronaldo bagged top honours.
25. Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina). To be honest, I expected more contenders from FC Barcelona on this list. However, it won’t really make a difference as this legend Leo Messi is on the list, and a top two finish is guaranteed for him. He is already the only person to have won the award 5 times. Can he make it 6 in 2017?
Sixth set of 5 nominees:
26. Eden Hazard (Chelsea, Belgium). Hazard recently made headlines for making an entire defence look silly with a dummy. Another Belgian in the list, this guy has been impressing us since a few years now. He has his eyes on the 2017 Ballon d’Or.
27. Isco (Real Madrid, Spain). The Madrid midfielder, they say, is well on his way to becoming on of Spain’s greatest football players ever. I won’t be too surprised if Isco joins Messi and teammate Ronaldo to bag top honours this year.
28. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain). The boy is French and let me tell you one thing – he’s just 18 years of age, and is youngest (by far) on the 2017 Ballon d’Or nominees list. How far he will go this year, I don’t know, but this guy is definitely going to be one to watch out for in the future.
29. Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan, Italy). Not sure how well Leonardo’s season is going so far, as his team are supposedly regretting this signing. Nonetheless, he has made it to the nominees list. Good luck to Bonucci!
30. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal). The magician joins his many teammates on the 2017 Ballon d’Or short-list. He is the reigning winner of the award, and will aim to keep it and join Messi at the top as the only 2 players to have won the award 5 times!
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