The contenders for the award have been announced and two of the biggest names in football have been overlooked… with good reason.
The nominees for the Ballon d’Or 2023 were announced on Wednesday evening in the most complicated, annoying and frustrating way.
The prize organizers, France Football, took to Twitter to post the contenders for this year’s men’s trophy in six sets of five players over two hours, with the two favourites, seven-time winner Lionel Messi and Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland, obviously among the candidates. .
However, some big names were notable for their absence. The omission of Cristiano Ronaldo clearly dominates the headlines, but as GOAL outlines below, he and other footballers really didn’t deserve to be awarded.
However, there were some major oversights, with treble winner John Stones being among the surprisingly ‘forgotten’…
Source: Goal