The 68th Ballon d’Or (French for “Golden Ball”) will be awarded on October 28, 2024 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris to the best footballer in the world for the 2023/24 season.
For the third time in the history of the award, the Ballon d’Or winner will be awarded based on the results of a season and not on performances within the calendar year.
Who will win the Ballon d’Or 2024 and be crowned world footballer?
All the information on the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites, including season statistics, as well as the mode and procedure of the prestigious world footballer election and the previous winners and history of this award
Ballon d’Or 2024 voting: date, time & place
Date & Time: When is the Ballon d’Or 2024?
Since the Ballon d’Or award ceremony is now regarded as an award for the best performances of the past season – i.e. the period from August to July of the following year – the ceremony also takes place early. No longer in December, but already in October.
The Ballon d’Or 2024 award ceremony will take place in Paris on October 28, 2024. As usual, the pompous event will be held at the Theatre du Chatelet.
TV and livestream coverage will once again be available in Germany on Sky.
An overview of the nominees for the Ballon d’Or 2024
- Rodri (Manchester City)
- Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
- Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
- Vinicius junior (Real Madrid)
- Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
- Kylian Mbappe (Paris St. Germain)
- Phil Foden (Manchester City)
- Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)
- Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)
- Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
- Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona)
- Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao)
- Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
- Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
The Ballon d’Or favorites in the check: Who will become world footballer?
Football fans around the world have been discussing for months who will be awarded the “Golden Ball” for the best footballer of the 2023/24 season on October 28, 2024.
There are always heated debates in the run-up and afterwards about who is most deserving of the “Golden Ball” among the Ballon d’Or candidates and world footballer favorites. There will be this time too.
There are many Ballon d’Or favorites for 2024. The list of nominees ranges from Rodri, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius junior to Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, Phil Foden, Florian Wirtz and Toni Kroos.
Who are the biggest favorites for the Ballon d’Or 2024 award? What speaks for whom? Arguments and statistics of the biggest Golden Ball contenders!
Rodri, a hot tip among the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites
The answer to the question “Who will win the Ballon d’Or 2024” could be “Rodri” on October 28. Rodrigo Hernández Cascante is the linchpin of Manchester City’s game and also the pacemaker in the Spanish national team.
Rodri led the Furja Roja to the European Championship title in the summer of 2024. The “Best Player of EURO 2024” award showed just how big a part he played in the European Championship title.
He also won a title with Manchester City last season – the championship. Rodri reached the final of the English Cup with the Citizens and only made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with the Skyblues.
The fact that he did not make it to the CL final and therefore did not win the title could prove to be a disadvantage among the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites
Who will win the Ballon d’Or 2024? Bellingham is a contender
Another midfielder, Jude Bellingham, has emerged as one of the 2024 World Player of the Year favorites.
The chances of Bellingham being presented with the “Golden Ball” in the Ballon d’Or 2024 vote are not bad.
The Englishman played a strong season at Real Madrid. He became Spanish champion with the Whites and won the Champions League.
In addition, Bellingham scored a total of 19 goals in the Spanish league last season – the fourth most and the same number as Robert Lewandowski.
Which is also an argument for Bellingham among the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites: He played in the EURO 2024 final with England.
Ballon d’Or 2024 vote: Will Vinicius junior win the race?
In addition to Jude Bellingham, Vinicius junior is a second Real Madrid player among the 2024 Ballon d’Or favorites.
Vini Jr.’s team successes are the same as Bellingham’s, with a league title and CL triumph. A small plus point that could speak in favor of the Brazilian in this World Player of the Year voting: He scored the decisive second goal in the Champions League final against Dortmund to win 2-0.
However, Vini junior scored four fewer goals than Bellingham in the Spanish championship – despite being a striker.
And he was also unsuccessful with Brazil at the Copa America in the summer. He was already eliminated in the quarter-finals against Uruguay
Who will win the Golden Ball – perhaps Kylian Mbappe?
If he has his way, Kylian Mbappe will be presented with the Golden Ball at the World Player of the Year Gala on October 28.
But France’s superstar is only an outsider among the Ballon d’Or 2024 nominees!
Although he won the Ligue 1 championship title with Paris St. Germain in the 2023/24 assessment period and, with 27 goals, was once again top scorer in the fifth-best league in Europe at best, things did not go well for Mbappe internationally.
He was knocked out in the Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund and France’s dream of winning the title at EURO 2024 was shattered in the semi-finals
What are Erling Haaland’s chances of playing world football?
In addition to Rodri, there are two other Manchester City players on the list of Ballon d’Or 2024 nominees, Erling Haaland, who is also one of the favorites for the “Golden Ball”. Does he really have a chance?
The Norwegian has consistently proven his individual class over the past season!
Haaland scored 38 goals in the 2023/24 season, which is the basis for the Ballon d’Or 2024 vote. He scored 27 goals in the Premier League, which also made him top scorer. For the second time in a row, by the way.
This would give him a certain lead over Real striker Vinicius junior, who is also highly rated among the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites.
In terms of success at club level, the super striker is on a par with his team-mate Rodri – Premier League champion, FA Cup final, knocked out in the CL quarter-finals.
Rodri became European champion, Haaland did not qualify for EURO 2024 with Norway. You can’t blame him for having a weaker national team than Rodri
Harry Kane is one of the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites
1996 was the last time a footballer from the German Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund’s Matthias Sammer, won the Ballon d’Or award. robert Lewandowski was named FIFA’s World Player of the Year in 2020 and 2021, but that’s about it.
What are Bayern striker Harry Kane’s chances under these circumstances? The English striker is of course among the Ballon d’Or 2024 candidates and favorites!
Harry Kane scored 36 goals in the last Bundesliga season, making him the top scorer. With his eight goals in the top flight, Kane scored a total of 44 goals last season – six more than Erling Haaland.
Kane also won the “Golden Boot”, the award for the top scorer in Europe.
His shortcoming compared to all the other Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites is that he has not won a title with his teams. Not with Bayern Munich (third in the championship, second round exit in the DFB Cup and semi-final in the Champions League) and not with England either.
He did reach the final of EURO 2024 with his Three Lions, but Spain were ultimately better there – which means Rodri, for example, has a better argument among the 2024 world football favorites
Ballon d’Or 2024 nominees: Lautaro Martinez as an insider tip
An insider tip among the nominees for the 2024 World Player of the Year award is Argentinian Lautaro Martinez.
Martinez won the Italian championship with Inter Milan last season and won the Copa America title with Argentina in the summer.
What’s more, Martinez was the tournament’s top scorer at the Copa with five goals. He scored a total of 24 goals for Inter in the previous season, making him the top scorer in Serie A.
Martinez’s disadvantage among the Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites and candidates: He has little lobby, unlike Bellingham, Vinicius junior and Kylian Mbappe. In addition, the Italian league is seen as weaker than the Spanish and English leagues
What are the chances of Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz becoming world footballers?
Matthias Sammer was the last German player to be awarded the “Golden Ball” in 1996. Back then, he received it in the vote for “European Footballer of the Year”.
Do Musiala and Wirtz have a chance at the 2024 World Player of the Year award?
If so, then Florian Wirtz. He won the championship and the DFB Cup with Bayer Leverkusen and also reached the Europa League final with the Werkself.
Jamal Musiala, on the other hand, came away empty-handed with Bayern. This means he probably has no chance among the many Ballon d’Or 2024 candidates.
However, there is a third German on the “Who will win the Ballon d’Or 2024” list: Toni Kroos. His arguments: Champion and CL winner with Real Madrid
More Ballon d’Or 2024 favorites – who else has a chance?
Lamine Yamal is by far the youngest player among the 2024 World Player of the Year favorites. The 17-year-old made a big impression at EURO 2024 and even set a European Championship record with his goal in the semi-final. However, he was unable to win anything with FC Barcelona.
The same applies to Nico Williams – a strong European Championship, including winning the title, and even winning the Spanish Cup at club level with Athletic Bilbao.
Whether the two young Spanish stars among the many Ballon d’Or 2024 nominees also have a real chance of winning…
However, Phil Foden could have a small chance of winning the “Golden Ball 2024”. Champion with Manchester City, “Best player of the 2023/24 Premier League season” and European Championship finalist with England.
Dani Carvajal is probably an insider tip among the 2024 Ballon d’Or candidates: championship title and CL win with Real Madrid (including a goal in the final) and European champion with Spain. In terms of titles, this makes him the number 1 favorite among the 2024 world footballers.
But as a right-back, does he really have a chance of being named the best player of the past season?
The Ballon d’Or & World Player of the Year winners since 2010
How the Ballon d’Or 2024 election works
The world footballer vote is somewhat complicated. It is decided 25% each by…
- .. the captains of all national teams
- .. the coaches of all national teams
- .. the FIFA users
- .. a group of 100 media representatives from the top 100 nations in the FIFA World Ranking
History & Difference: World Player of the Year or Ballon d’Or?
The election of the world footballer always causes confusion. Ballon d’Or or the FIFA award “The Best”?
The awards have both a different and a common history, which is somewhat confusing. The winners are also determined differently and in the end one important question remains unclear: who is the best?
For many fans, the Ballon d’Or, awarded by the French magazine France Football, is synonymous with the world footballer award.
This is because the first Ballon d’Or was awarded back in 1956, when France Football editor-in-chief Gabriel Hanot asked his European journalist colleagues to select the footballer of the year.
Stanley Matthews from Blackpool FC emerged from this first vote and thus also became the first winner of the Ballon d’Or. For decades, the voting was restricted to European footballers who played for a European soccer club.
It was not until 1995 that the criteria were relaxed so that all players – regardless of their origin – could be voted for. The condition was still that they had to play in Europe
The FIFA World Player of the Year was born – from 2010: merger into the “FIFA Ballon d’Or ”
In 1991, the world soccer association FIFA created its own competition. The first winner was Lothar Matthäus, then in the service of Inter Milan.
France Football and FIFA finally got together and awarded a joint prize with the logical name FIFA Ballon d’Or. In 2010, two awards were made into one – and the FIFA Ballon d’Or was born. But only until 2015…
Since 2016, there have again been two awards for the best footballer of the year – the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA “The Best Player” award.
The same players won in 2016, 2017 (both Cristiano Ronaldo), 2018 (Luka Modric) and 2019 (Lionel Messi). In 2020, the Ballon d’Or was not awarded due to the pandemic, the FIFA “World Player of the Year” award went to Robert Lewandowski, while Messi won the Golden Ball again in 2021.
Since then, however, the two elections have been held separately again – as they were before the cooperation. However, due to the long tradition of the Ballon d’Or (first awarded in 1956), many fans still consider the term to be synonymous with FIFA’s World Player of the Year award
