At the end of next month, we will know who will succeed Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or. In any case, the Argentinian will not win the trophy this year, the same goes for his eternal enemy Cristiano Ronaldo.
For years, Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the Ballon d’Or election and, by extension, all other individual awards.
The Argentine has won the prestigious award no less than eight times, making him the absolute record holder. The Portuguese is second in the all-time rankings with five final victories.
The end of an era
Since 2003, at least one of the two has always been among the final 30 nominees. But that era ended this year. And it seems unlikely that will change anytime soon, as both stars play in lesser-known competitions.
So it is up to a new generation to take up the torch. Because even the last two winners, besides Ronaldo and Messi, namely Karim Benzema and Luka Modric, are now in the autumn of their careers. Fortunately, there are enough young people who are ready to follow in their footsteps.
The new stars are ready
Ronaldo himself sees many talents who he believes have the potential to win world football’s most important individual prize.
In his former teammate Rio Ferdinand’s latest podcast, the Al-Nassr superstar suggests four names. According to him, Kylian Mbappé could win the Ballon d’Or multiple times.
“Probably Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham too,” he added. Ferdinand then put forward the name of Vinicius Junior, after which Ronaldo replied with his fourth candidate: Lamine Yamal.
