Lionel Messi left out of 30-man Ballon d'or shortlist

Lionel Messi. Pic/AFP

Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi was omitted from the 30-man list of nominees for the prestigious award on Friday for the first time since 2005. The Argentina great edged out Poland striker Robert Lewandowski for the Ballon d'Or last year but was not nominated this time after an underwhelming first season at Paris Saint-Germain. The 35-year-old forward also won the prize in 2019 -- it was not held in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Neymar also missed the cut this time.

Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappé, Karim Benzema, Erling Haaland and five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo were all included, as were Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

The list features six Manchester City players: Phil Foden, Joao Cancelo, De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and new signing Haaland (formerly Borussia Dortmund). Liverpool also has six nominees: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Darwin Nunez, Salah and Virgil van Dijk. Mané, who helped Senegal win its first African Cup before leaving Liverpool for Bayern Munich, is included, as is Bayern teammate Joshua Kimmich. Benzema leads a group of six Real Madrid players. The others are Casemiro, Thibaut Courtois, Luka Modric, Vinicius Junior and new signing Antonio Rudiger.

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The other nominated players are Sébastien Haller (Ajax), Rafael Leao and Mike Maignan (both of AC Milan), Christopher Nkunku (Leipzig) and Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus). The award will be presented on October 17. Among changes announced in March, the award is now being awarded based on performances over the course of a regular European season, rather than a calendar year. A reduction in the number of voters was among other changes, with the goal of streamlining the process. Voters also will no longer consider a player's career accomplishments. France Football magazine has given out the award to men every year since 1956 and to women each year since 2018, though both were cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

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