Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi has sensationally missed out on the 30-man shortlist for this year’s award.
The 30-man shortlist was released by France Football on Friday, 12th of August, 2022.
Favourite Karim Benzema did unsurprisingly make the list, along with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Sadio Mane and Kylian Mbappe.
Other nominees include;
Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
Rafael Leao (AC Milan)
Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Vinicius Jnr (Real Madrid)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Luis Diaz (Liverpool)
Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Casemiro (Real Madrid)
Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
Fabinho (Liverpool)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
Harry Kane (Tottenham)
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Phil Foden (Manchester City)
Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich)
Sebastian Haller (Borussia Dortmund)
Messi has not been left out of the Ballon d’Or shortlist since 2005 that he made his debut in the award, having won the award seven times during that span.
Foden is one of six Manchester City players on the list including new signing Erling Haaland while Liverpool feature five players; Mohamed Salah, Luiz Diaz, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunez – as well as the recently departed Mane – were also included.
Son Heung-min joins his strike partner Harry Kane, completing the 17 Premier League players included.
The winner will be crowned at the Ballon d’Or ceremony on October 17 in Paris.
