Messi Reportedly Wins Eighth Ballon d’Or while Haaland and De Bruyne Remain Favorites

Although the presentation of the Ballon d’Or will have to wait another two weeks, the winner has reportedly already been announced. According to Sport will receive the award for best footballer of the year for the eighth time in his career on Monday, October 30. This leaves the Argentinian behind, among other things.

Manchester City has had a historic season. Coach Pep Guardiola’s team not only became champions of England for the third time in a row, but also won the FA Cup and finally won the Champions League. Haaland and De Bruyne were the standouts in Guardiola’s successful team. The Norwegian switched from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City in the summer of 2022 and scored 52 times in 53 games in all competitions during his first season in England.

Article continues below video

Haaland regularly scored on a pass from De Bruyne. The Belgian, who retired early in the Champions League final against Internazionale, provided a total of 31 assists in 49 games in all competitions last season. Haaland and De Bruyne are considered big favorites among the public to win the Ballon d’Or, but according to the Spanish Sport the prestigious prize ends up in Messi’s hands for the eighth time. The Argentinian mainly owes this to his performances with the national team. The Golden Ball is awarded based on individual performances in a season and fortunately for Messi, the World Cup in Qatar took place last season.

The Argentinian was forced to exchange FC Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021. With Messi, the French thought they finally had the last piece of the puzzle in the hunt for the coveted final victory of the Champions League, but even with the left foot in the ranks they could not make any progress in the billion-dollar ball. Messi had more success with the national team. The dribbler played a significant role in the overall victory in Qatar with seven goals and three assists. Despite the defeat against Saudi Arabia, Argentina finished at the top of the group and subsequently qualified for the final at the expense of Australia, the Netherlands and Croatia. It was too strong for France after penalties.

The Team announced last month which thirty players were all eligible to win the Golden Ball. In addition to Messi, De Bruyne and Haaland, former Eredivisie players André Onana and Martin Martin Ødegaard were also among the nominees. Last year Karim Benzema was the lucky one.