Cristiano Ronaldo Misses Out On Ballon D’or Shortlist For First Time In 20 Years

Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has missed out on the 30-man shortlist for the 2023 Ballon D’or for the first time in 20 years.

The Ballon D’or is the most prestigious individual award in football. The organizers, France Football released the nominees for the different categories yesterday. And the Portuguese national wasn’t in the best players.

Ronaldo had a tumultuous 2022-2023 season at former club, Manchester United. Despite having been the club’s top scorer the previous season, he struggled to regain his form.

He finally fell out with the club after his explosive interview with Piers Morgan in which he lashed out at the club manager, Erik Ten Hag and the owners, the Glazers.

Ronaldo went on to have one of the worst World Cup tournaments where he scored just one goal, a penalty. It was after his move to Saudi Pro League side, Al Nassr that he rediscovered his goal-scoring boots.

The former Real Madrid man has won the Ballon D’or 5 times with his first coming in 2008. His last came in 2017 and since then he hasn’t appeared in the top 3 candidates.

Meanwhile, this year has Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi as the favorites to win it. After missing out on the shortlist too, last season, Messi came back in scintillating form.

He recorded 16 goals and 16 assets for PSG where he won 2 trophies. However, it’s his World Cup campaign that stands out.

The 36-year-old led the La Abiceleste to their third World Cup after putting up man-of-the-match performances in several games.

The Argentine won the World Cup golden ball for the best player. He also won the silver boot whilst becoming the player with the most goal involvement in the much-coveted tournament.

On the other hand, Manchester City forward Erling Haaland looks like another top contender for the award. The Norwegian was pivotal in Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning, aside recording several records along the way.

The battle is going to be majorly between Messi and Halaand although the bookies have higher stakes on the Inter Miami player to extend his collection to a record 8.