Ballon d’Or, no Italians in the list of 30. Messi and Ronaldo not nominated for the first time since 2003. Historic first female presence: Manuela Giugliano is there – Football

A new era is born in the Ballon d’Or. For the first time since 2003 there are no neither Cristiano Ronaldo (5 titles) nor Lionel Messi (8) in the list of 30 candidates to the prestigious trophy, which will be awarded on Monday 28 October at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. There are no Italians on the list, but there are 5 players who play in Serie A: Inter players Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu, new Roma players Artem Dovbik and Mats Hummels, nominated for their great performances at Girona and Borussia Dortmund, and Atalanta player Ademola Lookman.

There are 6 players from Real and 4 from Manchester City and Arsenal

The list is dominated, inevitably, by European champions Real Madrid, who boast 6 players, including the retired Toni Kroos and the latest arrival Kylian Mbappé, coming off a good year at PSG. Joining them are Dani Carvajal, Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde. The other two most represented teams, with 4 players each, are Manchester City (Rodri, Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden) and Arsenal (Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, William Saliba). Then we have Bayer Leverkusen who have Granit Xhaka and Florian Wirtz plus, essentially, Alejandro Grimaldo who went to Valencia. Then there are Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) plus Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Harry Kane (Bayern), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Vitinha (Psg) and Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa).

Ancelotti and Gasperini nominated for best coach title

Among the candidates for best coach are two Italians: Carlo Ancelotti, European and Spanish champion with Real Madrid, and Gian Piero Gasperini, who led Atalanta to a historic victory in the Europa League. With them in the running are Xabi Alonso (Bayer Leverkusen), Luis De La Fuente (Spain coach), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Lionel Scaloni (Argentina coach).

Donnarumma nominated for best goalkeeper

A bit of blue also in the list of 10 candidates for the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the best goalkeeper of 2024: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) will challenge the trophy with two acquaintances of Italian football, Mike Maignan (Milan) and Yann Sommer (Inter), who will have to watch out for competition from Diogo Costa (Porto), Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund), Andrei Lunin (Real Madrid), Giorgi Mamardashvili (Valencia), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao) and Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns).

Best Under 21: Lamine Yamal is the favourite

The list of 10 players who will compete for the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best under-21 player, includes Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona), along with Pau Cubarsi (Spain/Barcelona), Alejandro Garnacho (Argentina/Manchester United), Arda Güler (Turkey/Real Madrid), Karim Konaté (Ivory Coast/Salzburg), Kobbie Mainoo (England/Manchester United), Joao Neves (Portugal/Benfica-PSG), Savinho (Brazil/Girona-Manchester City), Mathys Tel (France/Bayern Munich) and Warren Zaire-Emery (France/PSG).

Women’s Golden Ball, first time for an Italian: Manuela Giugliano

For the first time in history, Italy has also received a nomination for the women’s Ballon d’Or. The winner was Manuela Giugliano, 27-year-old midfielder for Roma and the national team. Among the 30 there are 6 players from Barcelona (Aitana Bonmatì, Salma Paralluelo, Alexia Putellas Patricia Guijarro, Caroline Graham Hansen and Ewa Pajor, who had started the season, however, in Wolfsburg), 3 from Manchester City (Lauren Hemp, Yui Hasegawa and Khadija Shaw), 3 from Chelsea (Lauren James, Sjoeke Nusken and Mayra Ramirez, at the beginning of the year in Levante), 3 from Bayern (Glodís Perla Viggosdottir, Giulia Gwinn and Lea Schuller), 3 from Lyon (Lindsey Horan, Ada Hegerberg and Tabitha Chawinga, at the beginning of the season in PSG), 2 from PSG (Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Grace Geyoro) 2 from the Chicago Red Stars (Alyssa Naeher and Mallory Swanson) plus Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Gabi Portilho (Corinthians), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns), Barbra Tarciane (Houston Dash after starting at Corinthians) and Barbra Banda (-Orlando Pride but at the start of the season at Shanghai RCB).