With Lionel Messi’s tribute 2023 Ballon d’Or win now consigned to the history books, we can now get on with the serious business of who replaces him at the top of the game.
The Argentine, who won his eighth in Paris last October, has still taken Copa America glory during the 2023/24 season, but having stepped away from elite-level football with a move to MLS, the pathway to this year’s trophy is well and truly open.
Having shared 13 of the last 15 Golden Balls with rival Cristiano Ronaldo, all the talk was about a new impending battle between Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe.
However, 2023/24 didn’t turn out that way, and instead we have one of the most open fields yet, with Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen all completing exceptional campaigns that have thrown multiple names into the mix.
Added to that, this summer also saw Euro 2024 and the Copa America give many players one final chance to state their case, and the performances of the front-runners certainly balanced things out.
With the Ballon d’Or now a seasonal award rather than an annual contest, talkSPORT.com gives you our power rankings ahead of the close of play on July 30.
10: Florian Wirtz
2023/24 season: 21 goals, 21 assists
Trophies: Bundesliga, DFB Pokal
The 21-year-old attacking midfielder was a superstar in the Bayer Leverkusen team that went the entire domestic season unbeaten.
They went one game away from an unprecedented unbeaten treble, but 52 games without losing is some feat.
Wirtz was an integral member of that squad and that is reflected by his position on this list.
He also featured for Germany at Euro 2024, but they lost in the quarter-finals to eventual winners Spain.
10: Phil Foden
10
2023/24 season: 28 goals, 12 assists
Trophies: Premier League, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup
The Foden for Man City and the Foden for England at Euro 2024 were like two different players.
For City last season, he was unstoppable and comfortably the best player in the Premier League. That was reflected in him picking up the Football Writers’ Association and Premier League Player of the Year.
Guardiola has turned him into an absolute superstar at club level and he has now picked up his sixth league title.
For England, however, it is a different story. He struggled to play his best at Euro 2024, much like his teammates around him.
There were no goals and assists at the European Championships and if he’d have reflected his form in the Premier League then he would be a top contender for the Ballon d’Or.
8: Harry Kane
10
2023/24 season: 52 goals, 14 assists
Trophies: None
It was a phenomenal individual season for Kane following a summer transfer to Bayern Munich.
He hit the ground running in the Bundesliga and scored 44 goals in all competitions for Bayern – comfortably his best individual tally for a single season.
At Euro 2024, he looked far from fit and was regularly taken off by manager Gareth Southgate. However, he still managed to win a share of the Golden Boot with three goals.
The 30-year-old is still to win a trophy, however, and that will always see him get nowhere near the Ballon d’Or.
Bayern finished third in the Bundesliga and England lost the Euro 2024 final.
7: Nico Williams
10
2023/24 season: 11 goals, 25 assists
Trophies: Euro 2024, Copa del Rey
Williams was one of the standout stars of LaLiga and Euro 2024, don’t be surprised if he moves elsewhere this summer. Barcelona look like frontrunners for the exhilarating forward with Arsenal lurking in the background.
The 22-year old was already being singled-out as one of the best young attacking talents in world football, playing an integral role as Athletic Bilbao won their first Copa del Rey in 40 years and fell just short of a Champions League return.
Yet he still managed to step things up to a whole new level during the Euros as he terrified Italy, Germany and France before scoring against England in the final and being named Man of the Match. Among the runners and riders for the Ballon d’Or, there’s no competition with Williams when it comes to who upset the odds the most this season,
6: Kylian Mbappe
10
2023/24 season: 45 goals, 8 assists
Trophies: Ligue 1, Trophee des Champions, Coupe de France
Mbappe’s numbers were, as ever, absolutely ridiculous, and even more so when you consider what was going on in the background.
Refusing to sign an extension with Paris Saint-Germain to start the season which allowed him to join Real Madrid for free a year later, Mbappe was left out of pre-season and there were threats that president Nasser Al-Khelaifi would keep him there permanently until he changed his mind.
Mbappe eventually returned, but even when he did, Luis Enrique made headlines by regularly benching him in preparation for the future. PSG’s performances deteriorated, but their chances of an unprecedented treble appeared to be increasing all the way into May.
Yet when it came to the crunch, their talisman was nowhere to be seen, and the story was similar for France at Euro 2024.
5: Lautaro Martinez
10
2023/24 season: 32 goals, 3 assists
Trophies: Serie A, Supercoppa Italiana, Copa America
As seasons go, 2023/24 was a pretty strange one for Lautaro Martinez. Chastised for his Champions League final failures to end the previous campaign, the striker marked himself out as easily Serie A’s MVP, with his 24 goals eight more than any other player as Inter Milan won their first Scudetto in three years.
On form, he was arguably Argentina’s best player heading into the Copa America, but somehow found himself on the bench. Still, he was incredibly once again his team’s most important player.
Scoring off the bench against Canada and Chile, he then netted a double against Peru in his first start, and in the final was again the key man as a substitute as he scored the only goal of the match against Colombia.
4: Jude Bellingham
10
2023/24 season: 25 goals, 12 assists
Trophies: LaLiga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana
If not the best player in Europe this season, Bellingham was definitely the biggest shock, arriving from Borussia Dortmund and taking over Spanish football in a style no one had expected.
Previously never relied upon for goals in his career, the midfielder quickly moved up the pitch and filled in for Karim Benzema, breaking records and racking up points that sent Carlo Ancelotti on the way to his most dominant-ever league win.
Match-winners in both Clasicos against Barcelona meant Bellingham easily won LaLiga’s Player of the Season award, and after adding a Super Cup and Champions League, the Euros were there to win and shoot him up the Ballon d’Or odds.
Sadly for him and England it didn’t turn out that way, but it wasn’t for the want of trying, with the Three Lions nowhere near the final if it wasn’t for his goals against Serbia and Slovakia.
3: Dani Carvajal
10
2023/24 season: 7 goals, four assists
Trophies: LaLiga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana, Euro 2024
Real Madrid stalwart Carvajal joined the immortal in June by winning his sixth Champions League, matching club great Paco Gento, with Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Nacho Fernandez all reaching the same number.
Known as the ultimate winner, Carvajal proved those credentials by taking down Modric and Kroos on the way to Euro 2024 glory, making it four trophies for the season, a total only teammate Nacho can match.
However, there’s a reason Carvajal’s in the running and not his teammate. The right-back proved himself to be one of if not the best in the world during a season of big moments, that even included the crucial opener in the Champions League final when Borussia Dortmund were on top.
2: Vinicius Jr
10
2023/24 season: 26 goals, 9 assists
Trophies: LaLiga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana
While Bellingham was Madrid’s early-season star, Vinicius took over in the later stages and his Champions League heroics singled him out from the rest.
2024 started with a hat-trick in the Supercopa final against Barcelona, and continued with unplayable Man of the Match European displays against Manchester City, Bayern Munich, and eventually a goal in the final against Dortmund.
Leading the race with the might of Brazil behind him, his efforts hit a massive stumbling block in the USA with his nation slumping to a Copa America quarter-final exit against Uruguay in a match where Vinicius was suspended and had to watch his Ballon d’Or hopes potentially fade away.
1: Rodri
10
2023/24 season: 10 goals, 11 assists
Trophies: Premier League, Euro 2024
Fifth-place in the 2023 Ballon d’Or thanks to his integral role in Manchester City’s treble, Rodri has moved up this year despite less honours.
His winner in last season’s Champions League final against Inter Milan woke the world up to the fact that he’s not just consistently brilliant, but also more decisive than most of the world’s best, despite playing in an unglamorous position.
Rodri’s astonishing record of not losing a match in a year was ended by Manchester United in the FA Cup final, but he made sure to make amends in the Euro 2024 final and was deservedly named Player of the Tournament – the kind of award that often precedes Ballon d’Or honours.
And if he wins when the award is announced in October then it would mark the first time a Premier League player has won since Cristiano Ronaldo did in 2008 when he was United’s star man.
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- Ballon d’Or Power Rankings: First Premier League winner since Cristiano Ronaldo after Lionel Messi dominance could happen
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