As new winner of the ballon d’or is set to be crowned as football’s most prestigious individual accolade is handed out in Paris.
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is red-hot favourite to win the coveted men’s prize at the Theatre du Chalet in Paris. For the first time in history, the award is being handed out based on a season, rather than the calendar year.
Benzema led Real Madrid to LaLiga and Champions League glory last year and is odds-on favourite ahead of Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah. Indeed, he has already been named the winner in the Spanish press with the results of the award already leaked.
Last year winner Lionel Messi did not make the 30 man shortlist after his tough debut season with Paris Saint-Germain.
However, Manchester Cristiano Ronaldo is set to make a return despite not being expected to add to his five wins, after not attending in person since last winning in 2017.
Alexia Putellas of Barcelona Femeni – who agonisingly missed this summer’s European Championships through injury – is favourite to win the women’s award.
The Kopa Trophy for best young player and Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper will also be handed out on a night of glitz and glamour in the French capital.
Once the red carpet walk is done and dusted, the ceremony will begin at 7:30pm UK time.
A reminder of the nominees
So, who can even win the award?
Not reigning champion Lionel Messi, that’s for sure.
In total, there are 30 nominees and in brackets are the clubs who they played for last season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
Casemiro (Real Madrid)
Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Luis Diaz (Porto, Liverpool)
Fabinho (Liverpool)
Phil Foden (Manchester City)
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
Sebastien Haller (Ajax)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
Rafael Leao (Milan)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
Mike Maignan (Milan)
Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
Darwin Nunez (Benfica)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Manchester United)
Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
Dusan Vlahovic (Fiorentina, Juventus)
