Argentina Football legend Lionel Messi has failed to make the preliminary 30-man shortlist for 2022 Ballon d’Or award for the first time since 2005.
Messi who controversially edged out Poland captain Robert Lewandowski for the prize last season almost expectedly failed in securing enough votes to be considered in this round after arguably his worst season as professional career.
The Paris Saint Germaine (PSG) striker retuned just six goals for his new club following an acrimonious departure from longtime team Barcelona.
Former Barca and now PSG teammate and best pal Neymar also missed the cut the for the shortlist, however fellow clubmate Kylian Mbappe, has been included among nominees.
The winners of the prestigious award have come from La Liga teams in the last five years and looks set to again originate from the Spanish as front Lewandowski who now play for Barcelona is expected to duel it with Karim Benzema from Rival real Madrid.
Last year’s winner came from Madrid’s line up, by way of Croatian maestro Luka Modric.
Other notable nominees included five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.
While on the female side saw:
Alexia Putellas of female la Liga champions Barcelona, Ada Hegerberg, Sam Kerr from Women’s Super League (WSL) winners Chelsea in addition to Alex Morgan and Catarina Macario of World Cup winning USA team were named among the 20-woman nominees.
The EPL title contenders Man.City and Liverpool share six nominee each
Manchester City players: Phil Foden, Joao Cancelo, De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, and new signing Haaland (formerly Borussia Dortmund).
Liverpool: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Darwin Nunez, Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
Former Liverpool striker Sadio Mané, is also included in top 30 along with new Bayern Munich teammate Joshua Kimmich.
Champions League winner Real boast five Including keeper Thibaut Courtois, Luka Modric, Vinicius Junior and new signing Antonio Rudiger.
The other nominated players are Sébastien Haller (Ajax), AC Milan pair of Rafael Leao and Mike Maignan Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig), and Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus).
The award the is set to be presented on October 17.
