Thibaut Courtois is among the nominees for the 66th Ballon d’Or, the prestigious player of the year award given by the French magazine France Football, which made the list official on Friday.
The Real Madrid and Red Devils goalkeeper is in the list of the first five nominated, out of a total of 30, for the Ballon d’Or, which is changing formula this year. The trophy will now relate to the past sports season and not to the calendar year, and will include a tighter jury, a refined pre-selection and clearer award criteria. Last season, Courtois, who is also among the 10 nominees for the Yachine trophy which rewards the best goalkeeper of the season, won the Spanish championship and the Champions League with Real. He was notably voted best player in the final against Liverpool. The next 25 nominees will be announced over the evening by France Football. The Ballon ceremony is scheduled for October 17 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, as in 2021 when the Argentinian Lionel Messi was crowned for the seventh time and the Spaniard Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or for the first time. .
A few minutes after Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne is also among the 30 nominated for the 66th Ballon d’Or, the prestigious player of the year award given by the French magazine France Football, which made the list official on Friday. Kevin De Bruyne thus joins his teammate at the Red Devils in the list of nominees for the Ballon d’Or which is changing formula this year. The trophy will now relate to the past sports season and not the calendar year, and will include a tighter jury, a refined pre-selection and clearer award criteria.
Last season, the Manchester City player won the Premier League with Cityzens and was knocked out in the Champions League semi-finals by Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois and eventual winner Eden Hazard.
France Football has yet to reveal the names of the last five named later in the evening.
The Ballon ceremony is scheduled for October 17 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, as in 2021 when the Argentinian Lionel Messi was crowned for the seventh time and the Spaniard Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or for the first time. .
Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid striker, is also one of the nominees and will be a very serious rival for our two Devils. On the other hand, the seven-time winner, Lionel Messi, is not among the 30 nominated for the 66th Ballon d’Or, the prestigious player of the year award given by the French magazine France Football which formalized the list on Friday. Neymar is also absent from the list. Messi, 35, is a victim of the change in the formula of the Ballon d’Or. From this year, the trophy will now relate to the past sporting season and not to the calendar year.
Last season, the Argentinian only compiled eleven goals and fifteen assists in 34 games in all competitions with Paris Saint-Germain. Collectively, he only won Ligue 1 with the Parisian club. In 2021, Messi had won the seventh Ballon d’Or of his career.
The Brazilian Neymar, Messi’s teammate at PSG, is also not among the 30 nominated for the Ballon d’Or which will be awarded on October 17. Last season, he scored just 13 goals and 8 assists in 28 games in all competitions.