The names of two Paris Saint-Germain stars, Lionel Messi, and Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, popularly known as Neymar were missing on the 30-man shortlist for the 2022 Ballon d’Or award.
Messi has won seven Ballons d’Or awards, but he did not make it to the list, despite scoring 11 goals in 34 matches for PSG last season. His team-mate Neymar is also not on the list.
The nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or are listed below:
Thibaut Courtois (BEL, Real Madrid)
Rafael Leao (POR, AC Milan)
Mohamed Salah (EGY, Liverpool)
Joshua Kimmich (GER, Bayern Munich)
Christopher Nkunku (FRA, RB Leipzig)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (ANG, Liverpool)
Robert Lewandowski (POL, Bayern Munich then FC Barcelona)
Bernardo Silva (POR, Manchester City)
Vinicius Junior (BRE, Real Madrid)
Luis Diaz (COL, FC Porto then Liverpool)
Karim Benzema (FRA, Real Madrid)
Fabinho (BRE, Liverpool)
Riyad Mahrez (ALG, Manchester City)
Heung-min Son (CDS, Tottenham)
Casemiro (BRE, Real Madrid)
Phil Foden (ENG, Manchester City)
Harry Kane (ENG, Tottenham)
Sadio Mané (SEN, Liverpool then Bayern Munich),
Darwin Nunez (URU, Benfica then Liverpool)
Mike Maignan (FRA, AC Milan)
Kevin De Bruyne (BEL, Manchester City)
Sébastien Haller (CIV, Ajax then Borussia Dortmund)
Luka Modric (CRO, Real Madrid)
Cristiano Ronaldo (POR, Manchester United)
Antonio Rüdiger (GER, Chelsea then Real Madrid)
Joao Cancelo (POR, Manchester City)
Erling Haaland (NOR, Borussia Dortmund then Manchester City)
Kylian Mbappé (FRA, PSG)
Virgil Van Dijk (HOL, Liverpool)
Dusan Vlahovic (SER, Fiorentina then Juventus).
