August 12, (THEWILL) – Neymar and Lionel Messi are not among the 30 players selected for the 2022 Ballon d’Or shortlist, which organisers made public on Thursday.
The seven-time Ballons d’Or Argentine international, who played for Paris Saint-Germain last season, was left off the list after an underwhelming 11 goals in 34 appearances in France by his typically extreme standards.
Neymar, a teammate of his at Les Parisiens, was also absent from the list. The Brazilian only featured 28 times last season for the French champions due to injuries. However, their more impressive teammate, Kylian Mbappe, was listed.
Also included was Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or. Given the remarkable year a player like top favourite Karim Benzema had for Real Madrid, it is highly unlikely that the Portuguese will get a sixth award especially as he only managed 18 goals in 31 games for Manchester United in the previous campaign.
Benzema led Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid team to La Liga and UEFA Champions League wins last season with 44 goals. At Real’s Super Cup victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, Benzema simply continued from where he stopped.
The nominees are:
Karim Benzema
Thibaut Courtois
Christopher Nkunku
Mohammed Salah
Joshua Kimmich
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Bernardo Silva
Rafael Leao
Luis Díaz
Robert Lewandowski
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
