For the first time in the history of the Ballon d’Or, the most prestigious award in soccer, the likelihood that a player playing for a non-European team will win the award has increased.
On the 7th (Korean time), ‘France Football’, the organizer of the Ballon d’Or, revealed the 30 candidates selected for the men’s category. This is a list that includes Korean Kim Min-jae.
English Premier League (EPL) players include Andre Onana (Manchester United), Joszko Gvardiol, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Erling Holland, Julian Alvarez, Rodri (Manchester City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) ), Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard (Arsenal), and Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) were named.
Spanish La Liga players Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Yacine Bunou (Sevilla), Ilkay Gundogan, Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona), and Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) were selected as candidates.
There were only three German Bundesliga players: Jamal Musiala, Harry Kane, and Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich).
Italian Serie A players Hvicha Kvarachelia, Victor Osimhen (Napoli), Nicolo Barella, and Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) were recognized for their performance over the past year.
French Ligue 1 players include Randal Colomoani and Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain).
A player who played in Europe until recently but has now moved to the American Major League (MLS) is Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), and a player belonging to a Saudi Arabian club is Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad).
Looking at each club, Manchester City, which won three crowns last season, including the UEFA Champions League (UCL), stands out the most. The main players who won the three awards last season are still alive, and Alvarez, who played a leading role in Argentina’s ‘2022 Qatar World Cup’ victory, was added, and Gvardiol, who was part of Croatia’s sensation at the World Cup, recently joined Manchester City and will play a large part in the Ballon d’Or.
However, the winner is likely to come from outside Europe. Messi, the soccer emperor of our time, who led Argentina to the World Cup victory and finally won all the major trophies possible, is the most likely winner.
If Messi is selected as the winner, it will be the first time in history that a player belonging to a non-European club receives the award. After it was enacted in 1956, only European players were eligible until 1994, and country of origin was no longer considered, but only players playing in European leagues were eligible until 2006. Even since 2007, players playing for European clubs have been winning awards, and there has never been a case where a player from a non-European league has won the award.
By: 안전놀이터