Ballon d'Or: nominees announced
- Beth Pritchard
- Dec 1, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 7, 2020
The 2019 Ballon d’Or awards take place this Monday, December 2nd.
The shortlists for the awards were announced last month and there are plenty of predictions flying around about who will lift the much-desired trophies.
What is the Ballon d’Or?
The Ballon d’Or - translated to ‘golden ball’ - is an annual award that is presented to the best footballer of the year. The shortlist is compiled by French publication France Football and a team of journalists - one from each country - are assembled to vote for their top five players.
The men’s award has been around since 1956 but the women’s was introduced in 2018 despite the fact women’s football began to be taken seriously long before that.
Who has been nominated?
Notably, the shortlists for the men’s and women’s awards are different lengths. 30 men - including the five-time winner, Christiano Ronaldo, rival and five-time winner Lionel Messi and England superstar, Raheem Sterling - have been shortlisted.
However, only 20 women have made the list for their award. Trailblazing US captain Megan Rapinoe, current title-holder Norweigan Ada Hegerberg, and England’s powerful right-back, Lucy Bronze are amongst the final few.
Last year, the award ceremony caused controversy when the host, French DJ Martin Solveig asked Hegerberg if she could twerk. Many criticised this, saying that he wasn't talking the award seriously enough.
Heregerberg refused to take part in this year's Women's World Cup, taking a stance to highlight the issue of the lack of equal pay in Norway. Therefore, she has made herself less visible than her competitors on the global stage and her likelihood of lifting the trophy may have taken a hit. However, her skill speaks for itself. Take a look at some highlights.
Megan Rapinoe has taken the world by storm since this year's tournament. She's taken centre stage numerous times to talk about equality in football and has gained quite a following. She also impressed on the pitch at the Women's World Cup.
Read more:
Lucy Bronze won the hearts of the nation this summer. The right-back scored a powerful goal in England's quarter-final match against Norway. She's also impressed domestically at Lyon and played a huge part in her team's back to back league victories for the past two seasons.
The full list of this year's nominees can be seen at the bottom of this page.
After the success of this year’s Women’s World Cup and with the number of female footballers who have graced the headlines, football fans might have expected that this year the men’s and women’s shortlists would be of comparable length.
Who else could have made the women’s list?
Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen - Hansen had an incredible tournament this summer, impressing on the world stage. She’s also scored five goals in nine matches for FC Barcelona so far this season.
Netherlands’ Danielle van de Donk - Van de Donk played her part in the Dutch side’s second-place finish in this summer’s tournament as well as the team’s victory in the European Women’s Championships in 2017. She has impressed on both the global stage and domestically with Arsenal this season.
Germany’s Giulia Gwinn - Gwinn was awarded the FIFA Young Player Award following the 2019 Women’s World Cup. At her first major tournament with the German senior team, the 20-year-old played in all five possible games and scored the winning goal in Germany’s 1-0 victory over China.
USA’s Carli Lloyd - Lloyd became somewhat of a ‘super-sub’ at this summer’s World Cup. The current Sky Blue FC midfielder and 2015 Ballon d’Or winner netted the ball three times in the competition and became the first player to score in six consecutive World Cup games.
What are the odds?
Despite the fact that some news outlets are claiming that Messi has already been told he has won the men’s award, the title has not yet been confirmed, though currently, he is by far the favourite to win.
As for the women, there is much less talk and speculation. Football writers on social media have backed Rapinoe, mostly due to the fact she excelled on the world stage and they believe voters won’t have watched many domestic matches.
Women on the Bench's verdict?
Lucy Bronze. It's not up for debate.
Have your say
Vote below for who you think should win!
Women’s Ballon d’Or nominees:
Kosovare Asllani (CD Tacon/Sweden)
Ada Hegerberg (Lyon/Norway)
Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns/USA)
Sofia Jakobsson (CD Tacion/Sweden)
Rose Lavelle (Washington Spirit/USA)
Marta (Orlando Pride/Brazil)
Lieke Martens (Barcelona/Netherlands)
Megan Rapinoe (Reign FC/USA)
Wendie Renard (Lyon/France)
Sari van Veenendal (Atlético Madrid/Netherlands)
Sarah Bouhaddi (Lyon/France)
Lucy Bronze (Lyon/England)
Nilla Fischer (Linköpings/Sweden)
Pernille Harder (VfL Wolfsburg/Denmark)
Amandine Henry (Lyon/France)
Sam Kerr (Chicago Red Stars/Australia)
Dzsenifer Marozsan (Lyon/Germany)
Viviane Miedema (Arsenal/Netherlands)
Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride/USA)
Ellen White (Manchester City/England)
Men’s Ballon d’Or nominees:
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands)
Bernardo Silva (Man City/Portugal)
Heung-min Son (Tottenham/South Korea)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Poland)
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool/Brazil)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Portugal)
Alisson Becker (Liverpool/Brazil)
Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax/Juventus/Netherlands)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool/Netherlands)
Kylian Mbappé (PSG/France)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/England)
Donny van de Beek (Ajax/Netherlands)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal/Gabon)
Marc-André ter Stegen (Barcelona/Germany)
Sadio Mané (Liverpool/Senegal)
Sergio Agüero (Man City/Argentina)
Frenkie de Jong (Ajax/Barcelona/Netherlands)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham/France)
Dusan Tadic (Ajax/Serbia)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)
Riyad Mahrez (Man City/Algeria)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City/Belgium)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli/Senegal)
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid/Barcelona/France)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Real Madrid/Belgium)
Marquinhos (PSG/Brazil)
Raheem Sterling (Man City/England)
João Félix (Benfica/Atlético Madrid/Portugal)
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