The 30 nominees for the 2025 Ballon d’Or award have been announced with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo missing from the list.
Argentina legend Lionel Messi will not have the opportunity to win the accolade for a record-breaking ninth time while Cristiano Ronaldo has also been left off, despite winning the UEFA Nations League with Portugal.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele is currently the frontrunner for the prestigious individual award, followed by Barcelona’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal. Other names in the mix include PSG and Portugal midfielder Vitinha, Barcelona and Brazil’s Raphinha, and Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer and Napoli’s Scott McTominay are also nominated. Palmer played an instrumental role in Chelsea’s FIFA Club World Cup triumph, while McTominay was named Serie A MVP after inspiring Napoli to only their fourth ever Scudetto.
McTominay is joined by Inter captain Lautaro, who helped Inter to their second Champions League final in three years with nine goals and two assists from 14 matches in the competition.
30 nominees for 2025 Ballon d’Or Award
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
Ousmane Dembele (PSG)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG)
Desire Doue (PSG)
Denzel Dumfries (Inter)
Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund)
Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal, formerly Sporting CP)
Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Achraf Hakimi (PSG)
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG, formerly Napoli)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter)
Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
Scott McTominay (Napoli)
Nuno Mendes (PSG)
Joao Neves (PSG)
Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Pedri (Barcelona)
Raphinha (Barcelona)
Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Fabian Ruiz (PSG)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid)
Vitinha (PSG)
Florian Wirtz (Liverpool, formerly Bayer Leverkusen)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France, on September 22. It will be the 69th edition of the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
