The 2024 Ballon D'OR ; Who has the right stakes for It?

Nairobi, 

Wednesday, 17 July, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award presented by French magazine France Football since 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season.

Conceived by sports writers Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, the Ballon d'Or was based exclusively on voting by football journalists up until 2006. Originally, it was awarded only to players from Europe and was widely known as the European Footballer of the Year award. 

In 1995, the Ballon d'Or was expanded to include all players of any origin that have been active at European clubs. The award became a global prize in 2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being eligible; additionally, coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote, before reverting to just journalists in 2016.

Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year, and was known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or. 

That partnership ended in 2016, and the award reverted to the Ballon d'Or, while FIFA also reverted to its own separate annual award, The Best FIFA Men's Player.

In 2022, France Football modified the rules for the Ballon d'Or. The timing was changed so that awards were given not for achievements during a calendar year, but for a football season, and it was also determined that only a single journalist from each country in the top 100 of the FIFA Men's World Ranking would be allowed to vote. 

UEFA co-organizes the Ballon d'Or gala since 2024, with France Football retaining the voting system and the Ballon d'Or name.

Lionel Messi won the award a record eight times, and he is also the current holder of the Ballon d'Or, having won its most recent edition in 2023. 

Cristiano Ronaldo won it five times and amassed a record eighteen nominations in his career. 

Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten each won the award three times, while Franz Beckenbauer, Ronaldo, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Kevin Keegan and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge have each won twice.

Nominees for the world's best player award will be announced on 4 September - with the 2023-24 seasons and this summer's major tournaments the factors considered.

With Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham failing to win their continental tournaments with Brazil and England respectively, it has arguably opened the door for somebody else.

Here are six players with the biggest stakes to win the Golden ball on 28 October in Paris.

Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid, Brazil)

Real Madrid winger Vinicius, 24, has been tipped for the Ballon d'Or for some time after helping his side win La Liga and yet another Champions League.

He ended the season as Real Madrid's top scorer with 24 goals and added 11 assists.

The Brazilian scored twice in the Copa América but his side was unfortunately eliminated by Uruguay on the Quater Finals. 

Rodri (Manchester City, Spain)

Manchester city and Spanish holding midfielder Rodri, 28, lost one game all season for club and country (excluding penalty shootouts) - the FA Cup final against Manchester United.

He played a total of 63 games scoring 12 times and assisting 14 occasions. He led Manchester city to their fourth straight Premier league title, 1Uefa Super Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup and won the player of the Tournament is Spain's Euro 2024 triumph. 

No Manchester City player has ever won the Ballon d'Or during their time at the club, but Rodri has all the stakes on his side to hang his names on the history walls at the Etihad stadium. 

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid, England)

England midfielder Bellingham, 21, enjoyed a stellar first season at Real Madrid following last summer's move from Borussia Dortmund.

He ended the campaign with 23 La Liga goals - including late winners in both La Liga matches with Barcelona - and 13 assists for his club as they won the Spanish league, Spanish Super cup and Champions League.

His most notable moment at Euro 2024 was the injury-time overhead kick which sent England's last-16 tie with Slovakia to extra time.

He led England to the EURO 2024 finals against Spain unfortunately finished second. 

Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid, Spain)

Real Madrid's and Spanish right-back Dani Carvajal, 32, seems an unlikely figure to pop up among the Ballon d'Or favourites, but he has become one of only 12 people to play in and win both the Champions League and European Championship final in the same season.

He netted Real Madrid's opening goal in the Champions League final win over Borussia Dortmund and was a Key part in Spain's triumph at the EURO 2024 scoring against Croatia. If the stakes are on his side,he will be the first full-back to win the Golden ball. 

Lamine Yamal (Barcelona, Spain)

Barcelona teenage winger Lamine Yamal has had a sensational season playing 64 times including 50 appearances for Barcelona. He scored 10 goals and 14 assists in the summer. 

He was the youngest player to feature at tge EURO 2024 and the youngest to score and assist at the tournament and youngest winner of the EURO which made him also the best young player of the Tournament at 17. He was also the top assist with 4. 

He scored a stunning strike in the semi-final win over France which will go down in history.

Lionel Messi (Inter Miami, Argentina)

Messi, 37, is the most successful player in Ballon d'Or history, winning eight times - including last year, courtesy of leading Argentina to World Cup glory.

He only scored one goal in Argentina's Copa America triumph this summer, against Canada in the semi-finals, went off injured in the final and was generally below his best.

He has played 39 Games this summer scoring 28 times and assisting 17 times including for Inter Miami.