This year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony is set to be held in Paris on the 30th of October. Lionel Messi has the most number of Ballon d’Or awards with 7 of them in the bag. The Argentina captain could win his 8th this year following a wildly successful year. While he is the favourite to win the trophy, Manchester City star Erling Haaland is giving him a serious run for his money. There are a few other nominated star players, like Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr., and more.
The Ballon d’Or 2023 Awards ceremony will be held at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on the 30th of October. This award ceremony celebrates the best player of the previous year. The most successful player in the history of the award is none other than Lionel Messi. The Argentina captain has previously won the award 7 times. He could now win his 8th and set another record on Monday. Reportedly, after analysing player performance, statistics, and data, artificial intelligence models and algorithms have predicted Messi to be this year’s winner.
Lionel Messi won his career’s most coveted and desired trophy last year. He had won everything possible at the club level. However, even after reaching the finals on four occasions with the national club, the team fell short every time. It wasn’t until 2021 when Messi won his first major international tournament with Argentina. He then went on to win the Finalissima against Italy. Messi then led the team to win their first World Cup in 36 years and fulfilled his lifelong dream.
His contribution to Argentina’s win was immeasurable. He scored a total of 7 goals out of the 18 Argentina scored in the World Cup last year. Messi scored 2 out of the 3 goals for Argentina in the final against France. He became the second-highest scorer just behind Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe who had scored 8 goals. However, Messi won the most numbers of Player of the Match awards in the tournament. He became the first player to win 5 Player of the Match awards in the history of the World Cup.
Undoubtedly, he won the Golden Ball Award at the end of the tournament. He was having a mediocre season at PSG before the World Cup. It wasn’t a good run for him in the rest half of the season as well. Messi left and joined Inter Miami. He then helped them win their first-ever trophy by winning the Leagues Cup. Even with all these impressive accolades, while Messi is the favourite to win, Manchester City star Erling Haaland is not far behind.
Haaland joined Man City at the start of the 2022-23 season. He took one of the toughest competitions in the world, the Premier League by storm. Haaland won the Premier League Golden Boot at the end of the season. He also had 52 goals to his name throughout all competitions. Haaland helped Man City win their very first Champions League and the treble last season. His accomplishments with his nation may not help his case, but his contributions to Man City’s achievements last season speak volumes.
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