Messi Earns 17th Ballon d'Or Nomination
Messi joins the 30-man shortlist for the 2026 Ballon d'Or, one behind Ronaldo's record of 18 nominations, as Ronaldo misses the list entirely.
Lionel Messi has been named among the 30 nominees for the 2026 Ballon d'Or, the 17th time in his career he has made the shortlist for. The list was published on Tuesday.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated more often, with 18 appearances on the list.
Messi remains the outright record-holder for wins, with 8: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Ronaldo has won the award 5 times but will not add to that tally in 2026.
The nomination follows what the reports describe as a strong World Cup campaign for Messi, who announced his retirement from the Argentina national team days ago. The Argentine federation has said it will pause every match nationwide in the 10th minute this season for a round of applause in his honour. Messi himself has since moved on to Hamrun Spartans, where he is yet to get off the mark.
Ronaldo, 41, joined Al-Nassr in January and has scored 12 goals since, closing in on 1,000 for his career. None of that was enough to keep him among the 30 names on the list this time.
The full list of nominees:
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
- Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona)
- Marc Cucurella (Chelsea/Real Madrid)
- Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Luis Díaz (Bayern Munich)
- Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
- Gabriel (Arsenal)
- Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
- Sadio Mané (Al-Nassr)
- Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Lautaro Martínez (Inter)
- Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)
- Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain)
- João Neves (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
- Willian Pacho (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Julián Quiñones (Al-Qadsiah)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal)
- Rodri (Manchester City/Barcelona)
- Fabián Ruiz (Paris Saint-Germain)
- William Saliba (Arsenal)
- Ferran Torres (Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain)
- Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich)
- Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid)
The winner will be announced on 26 October. The ceremony moves to London this year, having previously been held in Paris.
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