Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Aitana Bonmati lead Ballon d'Or nominees

Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland are among the leading contenders to win this year’s men’s Ballon d’Or, while Spain World Cup star Aitana Bonmati leads the nominees announced on Wednesday for the women’s prize. Messi, who recently left Paris Saint-Germain for Inter Miami, is in with a chance of succeeding Karim Benzema and winning the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time in his remarkable career after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar last year. Haaland may be his main rival for the prize after scoring 52 goals in 53 games to help Manchester City win the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup last season. The Norway striker last week won the UEFA player of the year award for last season. PSG’s Kylian Mbappe and Haaland’s City teammate Kevin De Bruyne also feature among the 30 nominees for the prize, the winner of which will be announced at a ceremony in Paris on October 30. Benzema, who ended a 14-year spell at Real Madrid in June when he moved to Saudi club Al-Ittihad, is also nominated. Bonmati, winner of the UEFA women’s player award, appears the favourite to claim the Ballon d’Or after being the outstanding player as Spain lifted the World Cup in Sydney last month. She also starred as Barcelona won the Champions League and will hope to succeed her club and international colleague Alexia Putellas, winner in the last two years. Putellas is not nominated this time having hardly played for Barcelona last season after suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate knee ligament in July 2022 which kept her out for nine months. Bonmati is one of four members of Spain’s World Cup-winning team nominated, along with Olga Carmona, Salma Paralluelo and Alba Redondo. Their compatriots Patricia Guijarro and Mapi Leon are also named. Both of Barcelona, they did not go to the World Cup after being among a group of 15 players who said last year they no longer wanted to play for Spain in a protest against the Spanish federation and coach Jorge Vilda. Others included in the 30 nominees are Chelsea and Australia striker Sam Kerr and England goalkeeper Mary Earps. Full list of men’s Ballon d’Or nominees: André Onana - Manchester United/Cameroon Josko Gvardiol - Manchester City/Croatia Karim Benzema - Al Ittihad Jamal Musiala - Bayern Munich/Germany Mohamed Salah - Liverpool/Egypt Jude Bellingham - Real Madrid/England Bukayo Saka - Arsenal/England Randal Kolo Muani - Paris Saint-Germain/France Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City/Belgium Bernardo Silva - Manchester City/Portugal Emiliano Martínez - Aston Villa/Argentina Khvicha Kvaratskhelia - Napoli/Georgia Rúben Dias - Manchester City/Portugal Nicolo Barella - Inter Milan/Italy Erling Haaland - Manchester City/Norway Yassine Bounou - Al Hilal/Morocco Martin Ødegaard - Arsenal/Norway Julián Álvarez - Manchester City/Argentina Ilkay Gündogan - Barcelona/Germany Vinícius Júnior - Real Madrid/Brazil Lionel Messi - Inter Miami/Argentina Rodri - Manchester City/Spain Lautaro Martínez - Inter Milan/Argentina Antoine Griezmann - Atletico Madrid/France Robert Lewandowski - Barcelona/Poland Kylian Mbappé - Paris Saint-Germain/France Kim Min-jae - Napoli/South Korea Victor Osimhen - Napoli/Nigeria Luka Modric - Real Madrid/Croatia Harry Kane - Bayern Munich/England Full list of women’s Ballon d’Or nominees: Khadija Shaw (Man City) Mapi Leon (Barcelona) Mary Earps (Man United) Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona) Wendie Renard (Lyon) Katie Mccabe (Arsenal) Jill Roord (Wolfsburg and Man City) Yui Hasegawa (Man City) Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg) Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona) Debinha (Kansas City) Sam Kerr (Chelsea) Guro Reiten (Chelsea) Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg) Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona) Daphne Van Domselaar (Twente and Aston Villa) Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg) Hinata Miyazawa (MyNavi Sendai and Man United) Millie Bright(Chelsea) Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona) Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns) Hayley Raso (Man City and Real Madrid) Amanda Ilestedt (PSG and Arsenal) Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich) Olga Ramona (Real Madrid) Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona) Rachel Daly (Aston Villa) Alba Redondo (Levante) Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid) Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon) Yashin Trophy nominees Marc Andre Ter Stegen - Barcelona Thibaut Courtois - Real Madrid Mike Maignan - AC Milan Yassine Bounou - Sevilla FC and Al-Hilal Aaron Ramsdale- Arsenal Emiliano Martinez - Aston Villa Andre Onana - Manchester United and Inter Milan Ederson - Manchester City Brice Samba- RC Lens Dominik Livakovic - Dinamo Zagreb and Fenerbahce Kopa trophy nominees Jude Bellingham - Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid Gavi - FC Barcelona Jamal Musiala - Bayern Munich Eduardo Camavinga - Real Madrid Pedri - FC Barcelona Rasmus Hojlund- Atalanta and Manchester United Alejandro Balde - Barcelona Pedri - Barcelona’ Eduardo Camavinga - Real Madrid Xavi Simons - RB Leipzig Antonio Silva- Benfica Elye Wahi - RC Lens