THE Ballon d'Or 2023 countdown has now BEGUN – and many believe it could be heading for Lionel Messi's cabinet once again.
Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland is also in the run-in after firing his side to a historic Treble by scoring 52 goals in all competitions last season
While Barcelona star Aitana Bonmati has been tipped to win the Women's award following her World Cup win with Spain.
- Start time: Countdown on NOW
- Awards ceremony on from 8pm GMT
- FREE live stream: L'Equipe YouTube channel/ BBC website (from 8.45)
- TV channel: TNT Sports 2 (UK) Paramount+ (US)
- Ballon d'Or full result – where everyone finished
BALLON D'OR WINNER ODDS
Follow ALL the action from the Ballon d'Or awards with our live blog below…
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #18
Jude Bellingham has come in at number 18 for the Ballon d'Or.
After being agonisingly close to winning the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund last season, the 20-year-old has headed to Real Madrid where he has since been dubbed their new Cristiano Ronaldo.
He is expected to be named the 2023 Golden Boy with a staggering 95 per cent of the vote.
His El Classico double over the weekend is sure to have helped matters even more.
WITH BELLS ON Bellingham gets 95 PER CENT of vote to become third English Golden Boy winner
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #19
England captain Harry Kane has come in 19th for the Ballon d'Or rankings.
He had a superb year at Spurs before completing a transfer to Bayern Munich where he continued to show his class.
Kane received five nominations for the award.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #20
Lauturo Martinez has come in at number 20 for this year's Ballon d'Or.
The 26-year-old won the World Cup with Argentina and has already scored 12 goals for Inter Milan this season, which follows the 28 he netted last season.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #21
Antoine Griezmann has come in at rank 21 for the Ballon d'Or this time around.
The Atletico Madrid and France ace was once ranked third in the competition behind none other than Messi and Ronaldo.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #22
Former Man Utd target Kim Min Jae has come in at number 22 for this season.
He helped Napoli to win the Serie A before joining Bayern Munich where he has continued to impress.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #23
Man United's Andre Onana comes in at number 23 for this year's rankings.
Despite his Man Utd struggles, he had a great year with Inter Milan, starring in the Champions League final.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #24
It's Arsenal's Bukayo Saka who ranks at number 24 this time around.
We'll have good money on him being there again in future seasons to try and crack the top 20.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #25
It's another Man City star out at number 25.
This time it's Josko Gvardiol, who also played for RB Leipzig before his megabucks transfer to Manchester in the summer.
- By Tony Robertson
Men’s Ballon d’Or #26
Croydon-born Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala comes in at rank 26.
- By Louis Allwood
Kopa trophy nominees
Real Madrid and England superstar Jude Bellingham is the hot favourite to take home the Kopa Trophy, the award for the best player under the age of 21.
- Xavi (RB Leipzig / PSV Eindhoven)
- Jamal Musiala (FC Bayern)
- Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund / Real Madrid)
- Alejandro Balde (FC Barcelona)
- Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
- Gavi (FC Barcelona)
- Rasmus Höjlund (Atalanta / Manchester United)
- Pedri (FC Barcelona)
- Antonio Silva (Benfica)
- Elye Wahi (HSC Montpellier / RC Lens)
Men’s Ballon d’Or #27
Inter Milan's Nico Barella comes in at #27 in the voting with two nominations.
Men's Ballon d'Or joint #28
Two stars have been ranked equal at #29 Arsenal's Martin Odegaard and Randal Kolo Muani of PSG and Frankfurt.
Ballon d'Or top 30 countdown has begun
The countdown for the men's Ballon d'Or award has begun.
Coming in at #30 is Man City's Ruben Dias
Messi is the clear favourite
Bookmakers Paddy Power had the Argentina superstar as low as 1/14 when the nominations wee announced and have since SUSPENDED betting on him winning.
Messi is on course to wrap up a record eighth Ballon d'Or, reclaiming it from last year's victor Karim Benzema.
It'd be Messi's third win in the past four runnings of the prestigious title, with no winner called in 2020 due to the pandemic.
It follows the Argentina skipper's efforts in helping his nation win last year's World Cup in Qatar, which capped off a stellar career.
Tonight's winner ‘leaked’
The winner of this year's Ballon d'Or appears to have been leaked to the public.
The famous and reliable Fabrizio Romano has made a huge claim already, suggesting one legend will take home the award.
WHAT A MESS Ballon d'Or 2023 winner 'leaked' as fans slam 'biggest robbery in history'
- By Louis Allwood
Purnell's men's Ballon d'Or watch
In 2021 Purnell and Ballon d’Or teamed up to provide the winners with a unique watch.
For the first time, the male and female winners were each awarded a unique Ballon d’Or timepiece.
Below is this year's men's and women's watch.
Who are the women's Ballon d'Or nominees?
- Daphne Van Domselaar (Twente and Aston Villa)
- Lena Oberdorf (Vfl Wolfsburg)
- Hinata Miyazawa (MyNavi Sendai)
- Millie Bright (Chelsea)
- Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona)
- Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)
- Hayley Raso (Manchester City and Real Madrid)
- Amanda Ilestedt (Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal)
- Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich)
- Olga Carmona (Real Madrid)
- Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona)
- Rachel Daly (Aston Villa)
- Alba Redondo (Levante)
- Lina Caicedo (Real Madrid)
- Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais)
- Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona)
- Ewa Pajor (Vfl Wolfsburg)
- Guro Reiten (Chelsea)
- Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
- Debinha (North Carlina Courage and Kansas City Current)
- Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
- Alexandra Popp (Vfl Wolfsburg)
- Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City)
- Jill Roord (Vfl Wolfsburg and Manchester City)
- Katie McCabe (Arsenal)
- Wendie Renard (Olympique Lyonnais)
- Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
- Mary Earps (Manchester United)
- Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw (Manchester City)
- Mapi Leon (Barcelona)
Who has won the most Ballon d'Or awards?
- Lionel Messi – 7: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 5: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
- Michel Platini – 3: 1983, 1984, 1985
- Johan Cruyff – 3: 1971, 1971, 1974
- Marco van Basten – 3: 1988, 1989, 1992
- Franz Beckenbauer – 2: 1972, 1976
- Ronaldo – 2: 1997, 2002
- Alfredo Di Stefano – 2: 1957, 1959
- Kevin Keegan – 2: 1978, 1979
- Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – 2: 1980, 1981
Who are the Ballon d'Or nominees?
Andre Onana – Inter-Manchester United/Cameroon
Josko Gvardiol – RB Leipzig-Manchester City/Croatia
Karim Benzema – Real-Madrid-Al Ittihad
Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich/Germany
Mohamed Salah – Liverpool/Egypt
Jude Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund-Real Madrid/England
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal/England
Randal Kolo Muani – Eintracht Frankfurt-Paris Saint-Germain/France
Kevin de Bruyne – Manchester City/Belgium
Bernardo Silva – Manchester City/Portugal
Emiliano Martínez – Aston Villa/Argentina
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – Napoli/Georgia
Ruben Dias – Manchester City/Portugal
Nicolo Barella – Inter Milan/Italy
Erling Haaland – Manchester City/Norway
Yassine Bounou – Sevilla-Al Hilal/Morocco
Martin Odegaard – Arsenal/Norway
Julian Alvarez – Manchester City/Argentina
Ilkay Gundogan – Barcelona/Germany
Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid/Brazil
Lionel Messi – Paris Saint-Germain-Inter Miami/Argentina
Rodri – Manchester City/Spain
Lautaro Martinez – Inter Milan/Argentina
Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid/France
Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona/Poland
Kylian Mbappe – Paris Saint-Germain/France
Kim Min-jae – Napoli-Bayern Munich/South Korea
Victor Osimhen – Napoli/Nigeria
Luka Modric – Real Madrid/Croatia
Harry Kane – Tottenham-Bayern Munich/EnglandWhat TV channel is the Ballon d'Or 2023 and can it be live streamed FREE?
The Ballon d'Or awards will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 2 this evening.
Fans will be able to live stream the ceremony for FREE via the L'Equipe YouTube channel.
UK viewers can also watch for FREE on TNTSports.co.uk.
What is the Ballon d'Or?
The Ballon d'Or is the highest individual accolade in the game of football.
Last year saw Karim Benzema win the prestigious award after a spectacular 2021/22 campaign.
This year many are of the opinion that Lionel Messi will be victorious for an astounding eighth time.
The football legend helped Argentina to victory at the Qatar World Cup in December 2022 and was also voted player of the tournament.
- By Louis Allwood
When is the Ballon d'Or 2023?
Football fans do not have long to wait as the Ballon d'Or 2023 will take place tonight!
The ceremony is expected to begin at 8pm BST.
The Theatre du Chatelet in Paris will play host to the prestigious event.
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